Royalty
by Cabriola
Summary: The story of Ursa, starting from what happened that night. Told as a slightly different tale from what one would expect. Incomplete, updates irregular and sporadic.
1. Prologue

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**_Right then; my first, and probably last, Avatar: The Last Airbender fanfic. Intended mostly just to be a fun vent on ideas and stuff and my version of the loose ends of the series, it's probably going to turn into some rather demented crack I'll be writing as an excuse to avoid doing homework. For those of you who haven't read the summary, it's Ursa-centric and involves truckloads of OCs and minor characters. The canon characters are coming later, the majority a _lot_ later._**

_**To start off with, here's a short prologue in the form of a written version of a scene of events in Zuko Alone… The rest of the character dialogue will mostly all be from my own mind, promise.**_

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Dusk hung like a painted canvas around a great portion of the western hemisphere, accompanied by the subdued whistling of a warm, tranquil wind that swept gently through the tropical climate of the islands situated around those parts.

Inside The Royal Palace of the Fire Nation Capital; the youngest prince of the Fire Nation already lay covered, though fully-clothed, in his bed with his eyes half-open. Appearing no older than 11 years of age, his dark hair was simply tied back in a ponytail with a bland-red strip of cloth that matched the dark crimson, brown and gold colour schemes of his clothing. A lit candle to his left-hand side dully illuminated his face and the rich oak of his four-poster bed. Hearing his door creak open, he shifted nervously and glanced wide-eyed towards the source of the creaking, as though paranoid…

A small girl, appearing perhaps a little younger than himself; was leaning against the brim of the door, arms folded. All her hair, spare two ear-length bangs that hung down both sides of her face, was tied into a topknot adorned with a small red crescent-shaped clip. She wore the same manner of clothing as the boy she had obviously come too see, although hers appeared to be designed for a female wearer as opposed to a male wearer.

"Dad's going to kill you." She exclaimed in a sing-song voice. "Really," she turned her head and looked towards the older boy with a leer, showing a close-up of her large, golden irises... "he is."

Sitting up with a look of weary annoyance apparent on his face, he replied, "Ha-ha, Azula. Nice try…"

His younger sister looked towards him with a puzzled expression on her face and began walking towards him, placing a hand on his door as she spoke, "Fine, don't believe me, but I heard everything." She placed a hand around the nearest bedpost to his left-hand side and continued, posing winsomely with her next sentence. "Grandfather said dad's punishment should fit his crime." Deepening her voice slightly as she mimicked her grandfather, she brought a fist to her front while walking to the right-hand post opposite her and droned, "You must know the pain of losing a first born son," she spun around the post to come into face-to-face contact with the prince of the Fire Nation and slouched over slightly as she recited the final line… "by sacrificing your own!"

The look of incomprehensible worry that had settled itself into the young boy's equally golden eyes soon turned into an expression of disgusted denial. "Liar." He spat, looking away from her.

"I'm only telling you for your own good." Azula stood up again, a look of amusement set on her small face. The young prince glared ahead at his open door and down the long hallway, refusing to accept the mere notion that his father, let alone his grandfather, would consider such a thing. The young princess then softened her voice, as though hit by a great concept; "I know!" she sat herself down on his bed and continued, "maybe you could find a nice Earth Kingdom family to adopt you?"

He faced Azula again and, with a hint of panic and impatience in his voice, said, "Stop it, you're lying." Grabbing his blanket and shutting his eyes tight, he said aloud the words that he was repeating with wavering reassurance in his mind over and over again: "Dad would never do that to me."

"Your father would never do what to you?" Zuko opened his eyes again, his worried expression returning for the owner of the voice to see. A woman in her late 20's was now standing just outside Zuko's doorway; she had long dark hair identical in tone to that of the two children, some of her own hair was tied to a topknot surrounded by a princess' crown. She, too, had the same lustrous golden eyes they both possessed. A look of confusion was written on her face. "What is going on here?" she asked as she entered the room.

"I don't know." Azula said innocently as she glanced from her brother to her mother.

Her mother wasn't buying it. "It's time for a talk." She said, grabbing Azula's arm and leading her out of the room. Azula's usual confident, duplicitous expression she wore around her brother changed to one of trepidation as she was forced to follow her mother.

Her son was left in his bed, clutching to the blankets with his eyes shut tight again, almost chanting "Azula always lies...?" to himself in continued uncertainty.

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**Original Dialogue & Scripting For This Episode is copyright to Episode 7, "Zuko Alone" in Season 2 of Avatar. Written by ****Elizabeth Welch Ehasz**** and directed by ****Lauren Macmullan****.**

**I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender. It belongs to those peoples at Nick, Viacom, Mike and Bryan, etc…**

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	2. Words of Treason

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"_You _dare_ suggest I betray Iroh? My first born?"_

_Princess Ursa, ear against the door to the Throne Room, could hear the sound of the blazing fire surrounding the Fire Lord grow louder in his fury and quivered. Her children had not exited the Throne Room and, knowing better than to waltz right back inside to reclaim them, stayed as close to them as she could by the entrance. She knew it unruly; hell, _crazy _for a grown woman such as herself to eavesdrop on a Fire Lord's assembly without an exceptional excuse at hand… but her title would not silence her curiosity. Besides; as it were, her family were beginning to concern her more than usual as of late…_

_Fire Lord Azulon's cruelty seemed to increase in his old age. His power as a firebender and ferocity as a leader had not withered in the slightest and, at the ripe old age of 95, he still stabilised his nation's pride through what Ursa could only perceive as terror and violence… Her husband and beloved was becoming much more secluded and distant from his elder son, Zuko; and, indeed, withdrawn from her, his wife… She had wondered, with hurt feelings, if Ozai was perhaps _tiring_ of her and, heart close to breaking, if he was perhaps _dissatisfied_ with his only son… These feelings seemed bitterly possible, but the truth was wholly conspicuous… Rapt in his small daughter's marvellous natural talents, potentially capable of surpassing both her parents', Ozai spent a fair portion of his and Azula's time poisoning her mind with the traits of brutality and perfectionism that Ursa did not like to see. Every time she had managed to approach her husband on the matter, her opinion was callously brushed off with false promises and "urgent meetings". It vexed her to no end… She constantly worried for Zuko, a sweet child with a tender heart. Though she felt her son needed some backbone, she refused to damage his development in any way, already feeling as though she had lost her younger daughter to this same mistake… Ah, and she could also never forget Iroh, Ozai's elder brother. A true friend and gentleman…_

"_Directly after the demise of his only beloved son?" Azulon continued, voice scathing in anger._

_Ursa looked at the floor in sorrow. Lu Ten… Her only nephew, almost like a son to her, had departed agonisingly early from the world mere weeks ago during the now-discarded 600-Day Siege of Ba Sing Se. Though this terrible loss still stung for her, she could not imagine how her brother-in-law could survive… The loss of a child was a pain Ursa would sooner self-sacrifice herself for than allow to happen. Biting her lip, she soon continued to listen._

"_-suffered enough. But you, your punishment has scarcely begun!" Azulon raged on._

_Ursa frowned, barely catching the sound of the rising flames. Prince Zuko suddenly ran out of the doorway, his forefathers too engrossed in the emotional intensity of their scene to notice, very nearly whacking his mother in the face with the force of the doors as he burst through them. Not noticing Ursa, he ran at top speed around the corner and out of sight._

"_Zuko!?" Ursa cried in a voice audibly above a whisper. She gathered up her skirts and began to run for the corner when she heard more quiet, muffled voices coming from the inside the Throne Room. She hurried back and carefully leant against the door again._

"_The choice is yours, Prince Ozai… Your son; or your honour…" she heard Azulon say._

_There was a short pause before Ozai replied, "My choice is a finality; father. I will prove my worth to you." Ursa frowned and leaned ever-closer to the doors._

_The Fire Lord grunted. "Dismissed. Proof of the deed will be required by dawn the next day."_

_The princess momentarily stopped breathing… A dreadful thought arose in her mind, a thought she was struggling to beat down… But could it be true? Could Azulon be _so_ indifferent, could Ozai be just _so_ cruel? She heard drawing footsteps… her husband was mere feet away from the door! Spinning around, she rushed as quietly as was possible out of sight of the entrance behind a nearby pillar._

_Ozai opened the doors to the throne room carefully, taking a deep breath. Ursa's eye caught Azula scampering through the doors and behind the opposite pillar as quiet as a hermit crab as Ozai released his breath. He shut the doors quietly behind him and walked away around the corner. Ursa waited quietly; seconds after Ozai had disappeared, Azula skipped out from behind the pillar and disappeared around the corner too._

_Ursa waited for a while, temporarily lost in thought, before walking away from the Throne Room to search for Azula. Finding her daughter in Zuko's room, she had questioned the girl, dragged her out and was now headed towards her daughter's bedchamber._

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Ursa shut the door behind her and turned to face Azula, seeing her sitting on her bed wearing a fearful expression. Ursa sighed, wishing she would stop the act, and sat next to her. She turned her daughter to face her, "You and Zuko should not have disobeyed Fire Lord Azulon's orders, you should have left as you were instructed to do so." she said sternly.

Azula's eyebrows raised. "Wow! How did _you_ know, mother?" Ursa's unimpressed expression at her daughter's words made Azula shift a little on the spot. Ursa forced a smile.

"Never you mind, Azula… Now, you heard what your grandfather said to your father?" Azula nodded; so Ursa continued, still smiling. "Won't you tell your mother exactly what that was?"

"I didn't hear a lot of it… Honestly, mother… Zuzu dragged me through the curtain to listen; I thought it dishonourable so I kept to the wall…" Azula said innocently.

Ursa bit her lip, impatience similar to the type she felt for Ozai swelled up inside of her. She _had_ to remind herself that Azula had not even aged 10 years. Moral and conscience, however twisted Ozai must have made it by now, were still very much budding infancy. Masking a sharp feeling at the back of her throat that would surely build upon a venomous voice tone, she glared right down into her daughter's gaze. "Azula, you heard _everything_… Somebody's life is at risk, and you _will_ tell me the _full_ truth about what you heard, _or else_."

Azula's expression changed to shock. She swallowed, looking away from her mother, and pursed her lips. She then muttered: "Grandfather ordered father to kill Zuko…"

Ursa allowed the gasp locked in her throat to escape upon Azula's words. "No!!"

Azula gave the wall a venomous look. "What? It's the _truth_, mother! That _is_ what you wanted, right-?"

Azula didn't have time to say anything more. By the time she had turned to look at her mother, Ursa had bolted out of the door and sprinted down the hallway to Ozai's bedroom.

Azula growled. "_Again_, she threatens me… _Again_, she rushes to Zuko's rescue…" She jumped down from her bed and walked to a corner of her quarters, where the blackened, crisped remains of the ugly doll her kooky uncle had sent her from the Earth Kingdom lay on the floor. The week before on the day she had received, and burnt, the doll; her mother had, yet _again_, belittled her; and this time on such a small matter as 'ungratefulness'! The _nerve_!! So Azula had taken herself to her room and thrown the doll at the wall in a fit of rage.

Azula picked the damaged doll up again on this present day, studying the burnt features. "Helpless, useless… _unfeeling_…" Crushing the burnt head with her bare hand, she muttered… "You will suffer…"

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Ursa was not sure whether to believe her daughter or not. Azula had rather an issue with giving a person the full story, and at times the complete opposite of the truth… But, surely, she _had_ to be telling the truth about something like _this_…

When she reached the door to Ozai's quarters, she burst in, seeing no fit reason to knock. "… Don't do this, Ozai!" she said sternly.

Ozai was standing in the middle of his chamber with his back to the doorway, his hands cupped and forming a bright orange fire. He lowered his head, extinguishing the small flame. "I have no choice…"

"No… You _do_ have a choice, Ozai." Ursa closed the door and approached her husband, albeit uncertainly. "And you are making a _grave_ mistake-"

"No." Ozai interrupted; his voice soft. He still would not turn to face his wife. "I am bringing this nation a step closer to ending this war… _Once and for all_."

"By _killing your own child_!?" Ursa's voice and appearance were desperate now, she could feel herself shaking involuntarily at the amount of emotions now raging throughout her mind.

"It is better this way…" Ozai muttered, voice still soft yet huskier than before.

"No, Ozai!! You are _not_ answering my question! What-_why_!?" Ozai could hear Ursa approaching, ready to walk in front of him and look him in the eyes…

"For _us_, my darling… For our _nation_, for our _daughter_-" Ozai turned his head slightly, profile barely visible…

"What… about… _Zuko_!?" Ursa yelled slowly, now just inches away from Ozai.

"… The Fire Lord wishes for me to end my son's life, in order to prove my worth to him…" Ozai turned his head back around to where it was when Ursa had entered the room.

"And you believe that will bring you _any_ closer to claiming the throne for yourself?!" Ursa screamed at the back of his head.

This had made Ozai spin right around. Not only had Ursa not spoke to him like that since their teenage years; the accusation she had just made had made Ozai realise, _fear_, that Ursa perhaps knew more than he had allowed. "You care for the boy too much…" he stated coldly, looking directly at his wife.

"As should you…" Ursa replied coldly, looking back into Ozai's eyes with disappointment.

Ozai paused for a moment and, pursing his lips in a similar way to which Azula did, averted his gaze towards a magnificent painting of Zuko in his infancy that hung beside the door. "Zuko will die tonight…" he then looked towards the pearl dagger he had encountered his son playing with earlier on. Ozai had taken the dagger from the place Zuko had left it after the assembly and placed it on his bedside table, it was an option of his son's execution that he had considered at the time…

"… You are in no position to do _anything_ about it." Ozai brought his gaze back to Ursa. "Say your last goodbye to the boy, and then return to your quarters and _stay_ there. I order you. Get in the way, and charges will only be made against you. I don't want that to happen…"

Ursa looked directly at Ozai with a bitter expression of hate that he was not used to seeing neither, at least in _his_ opinion, one he deserved. Ozai glared back at Ursa, folding his arms. "_Now._"

Suddenly, Ursa pushed past him and swiped Zuko's dagger from Ozai's bedside table. She unsheathed the weapon, which made Ozai stand firmly still. "What are you doing?" he asked sternly, frowning at his wife.

Ursa was only half paying attention. She peered at the inscriptions on the exquisite dagger that Zuko had read out upon a first glance of the knife…

"_Never give up without a fight…"_

Ursa looked back up at Ozai, now walking towards her. Biting her lip, she held the knife up against her jugular, as quickly and as calmly as though this were a rehearsed scene of a play.

"You clearly do not care for my volition enough to _consider_ sparing our son's life, my husband? So be it…" Gripping the knife firmly as Ozai merely remained where he stood, expression vacant, she continued. "… Say you're going to kill Zuko, _dare_ tell me that once again." She held the knife closer against her skin, expression undaunted. "You know fully well what I'll do."

Her husband, much to her surprise, merely smirked. "But you _wouldn't_, would you?" Ozai began pacing in a small circle around Ursa like a vulture would a corpse. "Not with a son at risk and a daughter to raise…"

Pupils dilute, Ursa brought the dagger away from her neck slightly. "How could you be so sure I _wouldn't_; lord husband!?" She fell into Ozai and awkwardly backed away as he drew closer. "You think I'm _moonstruck_, I could end my own life at any minute for all you believe!" Ursa hit the wall; Ozai reached her before she had a chance to move. He took a hold of the wrist of the hand with Zuko's knife enclosed. Feeling her grip loosen, Ozai flicked it to the side. The knife struck the wall, inches away from a portrait of Zuko in his infancy.

"Impend all you wish, we both know that your nobility is too strong for such nonsense as kamikaze…" Ozai said amusedly. With no invitation or notification at all; Ozai pressed his body against Ursa's, pinning her to the wall, she gasped. "As is your beauty, my wife…" Ozai then began to kiss her neck.

Ursa shook from both anger and… a newfound _repulsion_ for this man. The prince, the husband she loved so very much… until this night. Her hands clenched into fists and, forcing her anger to stay shallow, calmly stated, "Lord Husband… Not only is this the wrong time, it is also no longer your _right_…" Those words won Ursa her wish. Ozai drew back, as though physically hurt. Ursa sensed Ozai's anger and braced herself.

"You…" Ozai was trembling with anger and hurt, Ursa felt the smallest tinge of sympathy for her husband that she quickly eradicated before the next words spilled from his mouth with a scowl. "_Dare_ deny your duty, _my wife_!?"

Ursa narrowed her eyes and continued to speak calmly, something of a practised art that she was thankful for. "If you deny your duty as a father, it is my full right to deny my duty as your wife."

Ozai's next words were full of venom. "That is pure nonsense! The crown atop your head is material proof of our binding marriage. You belong to _me_, not the boy!! Learn your place or suffer the consequences!"

Ursa kept her glare. Seconds later, her hands moved to the headpiece surrounding the tie keeping her topknot in place. Ozai's expression changed from pure anger to shock twice as quickly as it had changed beforehand from shock to anger. Ursa removed the pin from the headpiece carefully, bringing it down to her waistline and reinserting the pin, she held it up. "This item is of material value, you say… For the past 3 years, that is _all_ our marriage has been to you, Ozai!"

"Ursa, that is not true!" Ozai's eyes glanced to the crown. "These past few years, I have been obsessed… I have learnt my lesson now."

"So you'll spare Zuko's life?" Ursa tried not to sound too hopeful while speaking those words.

Ozai bowed his head, sighing. "I cannot…"

"Then you have _not_ learnt your lesson!" Ursa glared up into Ozai's bowed gaze. "Ensure that _my_ son is not harmed, or I _swear_ to Roku I will plague this entire palace-!!" before Ursa could finish, Ozai had struck her across the face. Though not hard, this has caught her off balance. He had not _dared_ to smack her, at least not for around a year…

"You are a _princess_; do_ not _speak of treason within the vicinity of several highly-trained guards if you truly know what's good for you!" Ozai hissed. As Ursa gripped to her cheek, he glared at her while she glanced back with uncertainty. "_Forget_ about Zuko. Even if I were to defy my father's words, he is as good as dead! I am willing to make our son's end a quick and painless one; that is as much as I can do for the boy. Place that crown back upon your head, _now_. I will _never_ let you leave, Ursa! I care too much for you; you have a position to uphold as a mother… Our daughter _needs_ you! Have you simply stopped caring?"

Those words stung Ursa. She still cared very much for Azula, however concerned she was for her daughter's future. Ursa stood completely still for a second, then sighed. "You are right, my lord…" She reached for her hair, crown in hand. Ozai smiled and she smiled back at him…

In the flick of a wrist, threw the cloth tying her hair into a topknot onto the floor, along with the precious golden crown signifying their marriage. Hair fell in front of her face as she folded her arms. Looking up at the shocked expression she had gained from her husband for her callous act of rebellion, and down at the crown she only allowed one word to escape with a shrug of her shoulders. "Oops…"

Ursa had expected yet another slap around the face, which she would take with dignity, and was surprised to find that Ozai had calmed down significantly. "Please, my darling… Do not do this to me. We can make another boy."

Ursa's mouth fell open. The nerve of him! What had happened to her husband!? "No child we produce could _possibly_ replace Zuko!"

Ozai smiled softly, as though amused by her words, and shook his head. "We are perfectly capable of producing a better heir and a better firebender, an altogether better _child_. We are _still_ young, _still_ talented… _Please_, just consider the possibilities-"

"There will be no more heirs after this, Ozai! I will not allow any child of mine to become a tool for _your_ gratification!!" those words came out in a shrill burst of anger. Ozai had stepped back slightly, expression dormant.

"You misunderstand me, my lady wife… In _no way_ is my aspiration intended for _my_ gratification!"

"So then do what is right! Spare our baby boy!!" Ursa yelled directly at his face, voice desperate.

Ozai's teeth gritted with impatience. "Do you not know _who I am_? Do you not know of the duty I have been given, the honour I _must_ uphold!?"

Ursa had quite lost control at this point; avoiding all eye contact with Ozai she walked towards the knife stuck in the wall, "_I see right through you!_" yanked it out, then turned back to face Ozai, wearing an enraged expression that looked quite unfitting on her delicate features. She stormed towards him. "You are a heartless screw-up who believes that those you consider as _weak_ should suffer for your own tactless mistakes!!"

Ozai yelled out in rage at her words, grabbed the wrist she now held the knife in and yanked her close to him. "You _will_ bear me a new male heir to the throne, Ursa! You will bear me a child, dead or alive!!"

Ursa, in a state of panic, had written her own suicide note and kicked her lord husband in the privates. Ozai gave an unearthly roar and fell to the floor, eyes scrunched in pain. Though surprised with her action and terrified of the consequences, Ursa kept her resolute disposition. "Children are biologically out of the question if I _die_, you idiot!!"

Ozai's single reply was a whiny groan, to which Ursa shook her head. The sight was just pitiful… Leaving her husband struggling to regain his pride, Ursa spun around. "Goodbye, my Lord Husband… By moonrise; my son, daughter and I will be gone from this place… Best of luck with the war, my lost love…"

Ursa had taken a single step when Ozai reached under Ursa's dress and grabbed her ankle; screaming, she fell hard on the floor. Skin bruised and lip bleeding slightly at the side, Ursa struggled to get away as Ozai slowly sat up. "Do you believe so?" He knelt still, shaking with anger. "You... foul-mannered… dishonourable little _whelp_!!"

Ozai grabbed Ursa by the top of her dress, pulled her to her knees and pressed his face into hers, her blood brushing against his cheek as he spoke. "You will be confined to the palace dungeons for the rest of your days! When I have tired of you, I will leave it to the Fire Sages to decide your fate!!" throwing Ursa back onto the ground, grunting as the pain of her bruises was added to, Ozai let out an almighty bellow. "GUARDS!!!"

Ursa abruptly swung herself up upon this note. She snarled viciously and clawed Ozai across the face. As he fell sideways to the floor, yelping like a wounded tiger, his wife held her hands up and set them alight with white, scalding fire. "Ursa, no!!"

Breathing heavily through pure rage with a scowl to show, Ursa thankfully seemed to regain herself upon acknowledging her husband words, her hands reabsorbed their fire and her expression softened. Ursa took her glare away from Ozai and looked up to the ceiling, running her hands through her hair she muttered words such as "Control… I have to keep calm…", and upon the sudden realisation of all that had just occurred, looked down at Ozai once again. Her husband was now sitting on the floor in a defeated slump, the scratch-marks his wife had left on his face now stood out as four red lines. Ursa knelt to the floor, something of an idea forming in her mind… "I have a proposal, Ozai…" she spoke aloud. Ozai then looked at her, confusion evident in his expression.

Guards then rushed inside as Ozai opened his mouth to speak. "Sire, you called for us?"

Ursa looked at her husband with pleading eyes. It was Ozai's word against hers. She was at a total loss of control… If Ozai were to disregard her words, Zuko would _definitely_ die…

"Are you both alright… sire?" the guard was anxious for an answer, staring directly at the prince's profile; the left cheek where the scratch marks were lay hidden from view where only Ursa could see them.

Ozai took a deep breath, "It matters no longer," and turned away. "Leave us."

Ursa felt her chest relax with relief, the guards turned away after making way for a moment of confusion and left Ozai and Ursa in each other's privacy.

"Your proposal, my dear wife?" Ozai turned to Ursa when he was sure the guards were out of earshot, giving her a look of suspicion and distrust.

Ursa ignored this expression as, gathering her composure once more, she stood to the ground. "Spare my little boy's life; and you can have what you've always dreamed of since childhood…"

Ozai's eyes lit up, the same way they usually did in their youth when he was about to receive something he wanted. This unnerved Ursa; however she dared not show it. Thereafter, Ozai's expression quickly shifted to one of amusement and, standing himself up so Ursa had to look up at his face, said, "Please… Do carry on."

"_You have to think of a plausible plan, he's aware of your hesitance!"_ Ursa thought to herself with a panic she forced down into her stomach. Knowing Ozai all too well, she decided to trust her instincts. "I do not know how… how I will phrase this, Ozai-"

"Time is not on our side, Ursa… Construct your proposal _now_, or I will call the guards back." Ozai smirked.

Ursa could not believe her ears! Was Ozai… _goading_ her!? She held back a furious expression. A calm, smirking face that caught Ozai off guard for a moment emerged over her face. "Your father is in the way…" she tenderly ran her fingers across the area she had scratched her husband in the face. "Just another obstacle between you and your _true_ right…"

"What_ am I _thinking_!?"_ Ursa had to ask her mind as she took her husband's soft, manicured left hand in both of her own, clearly arousing the man. "What is preventing you from… _knocking it down_, my dearest?"

"… My kindred love and admiration for him… Oh, I want to prove my worth to my father _so_ badly, my darling…" Ozai took his hand away from hers and wrapped his arms around Ursa's shoulders, his own sunlit eyes boring into hers. "Please… Help me."

"I will… I promise…" Ursa wrapped her arms around his waist, deciding to side with Ozai's _good_ temperament. Despite what he had said and done to her, Zuko _had_ to come first… "But you must promise not to lay a _finger_ on Zuko…"

Ozai paused for a moment, and then nodded in suspiciously lax agreement before he spoke, "… Your proposal?"

Ursa sighed, waiting a moment to form a plausible statement in her mind. She then, reluctance evident in her tone, said, "_I_ will convince Azulon to pass Iroh's birthright to you." She broke away from their embrace. "You do not have to do anything."

Ozai, sensing this reluctance, thankfully misinterpreted her feelings slightly. "… Are you saying you would… take out my father?"

Ursa was taken-aback by this. "No, _no_! I merely hoped to convince the man through fairer, non-fatal means!"

"I'm not so sure about that…" Ozai said in a soothing voice. Ursa masked an expression of confusion with what she thought was a serious one. Was it now _Ozai's_ turn to play the mind games…? "My father is difficult to reason with…"

But Ursa knew better than to buy in to what Ozai was saying as the truth… She looked at the pearl dagger clasped in her hand and then, placing it on the bedside table it once sat atop of, turned back to Ozai and sighed, "I must try. I may be able to save his life. However, should I fail…" and she turned back to look at the blade of the dagger once more, thoughts drifting towards Zuko… "I may have no choice in the matter."

Ozai turned towards Ursa, and she looked back. A look of disorientation was set across her husband's features. This was not the first time Ozai had lost a woman he loved dearly, and the fact that he _remembered_ Ursa only deepened the emotional wound. Ozai looked away for a brief moment, and then he met Ursa's eyes again. "… You are sure you wish to do this?"

Ursa turned her grim-featured face away from Ozai, she bowed her head. "I will protect Zuko at any cost… Even if that cost is to become murder… …"

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_It was all too easy…_

Planning in the closet… It felt almost like it once did before when they were young… Plans on how best to "assassinate" Zhao as he strutted down that very same hallway as though he owned the entire palace… Plans on what to do with those ignorant guards that had _dared_ to insult Ozai's father behind his back… Plans on what to do with those guards who were just plain ignorant… Those childish schemes had now led up to this very moment…

"Then you agree… Your father should _only_ be slain _if_ he refuses to comply?"

"With my coronation _as well as_ our boy's safety…"

"… Do you swear, upon your life, that _no_ harm will befall Zuko during your reign?"

"Only if you swear to leave dutifully, as banishment instructs, if the wicked deed is to be done…"

"… Yes…"

Inside the closet, Ursa then bowed her head as she spoke. Ursa knew one thing, and that was that she did not trust Ozai with _either_ of her children… She planned to leave _with_ them, but had to be careful not to infringe the rights of her and her husband's vow while doing so for fear of Zuko's life. She had to be careful… "I will…"

Ozai looked below her eye line upon her response. "Then I must request our ring…"

Ursa, knowing what he meant, held up her princess crown in the palm of her hand and stared at the object with sorrow. What she once thought of as an accursed material item, she now found herself _in need_ of … "But… … I…"

"Should you turn to your last resort; the object will be a menace… You will not be able to sell the item on fear of life and death, nor will it be wise to keep it with you." Ozai stated, holding a hand out. "It is in my best interests to keep it…"

Ozai was right, and Ursa knew it. She did not see a life similar to that of her current one ahead of her if Azulon were to fall to the grave and she could predict that, in time, all material objects will mean _nothing_ to her… She slowly took a hold of the large, curved flame shape of pure gold that adorned the crown and placed it onto Ozai's palm. He closed his hands around the base of the headpiece. "I wish you good fortune, my beautiful wife." Kissing her on the lips, he turned towards the door. "Midnight is approaching…" And with that, he left. Leaving her standing inside the dark closet…

_Yes… All _too_ easy…_

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**I was going to end this chapter on a cliff-hanger; but just over 10 pages of typing are enough for the first chapter, I think…**

**Little!Azula will definitely be back. Probably not in the next chapter, but most likely in the one afterwards.**

**Thank you for read first chapter of my fanfic. I hope you like! Dziekuje.**

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_**I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender. It belongs to those peoples at Nick, Viacom, Mike and Bryan, etc…**_

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	3. Azulon's Dying Wish

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Ursa had to make haste as she swept in secrecy into the servant's quarters. She glanced around at the attire hanging from the walls… it was disgusting! She had never seen the servant's clothes look just _so_ disgusting! She sighed, swiped a set of clothes about her size and ran into the surprisingly spacious nearby closet. If this all managed to end well, she would order that the servants be permitted to use the laundry room. _Immediately_.

"Rumour has it that there's some commotion between the Fire Lord and Prince Ozai…"

Ursa stifled a gasp. She had just finished changing when she heard voices outside, _very_ close by. Pressing her ear against the door, she caught some of their whispered conversation. Zuko's name was mentioned, as was her own… Her eyes widened in fear as she heard the voices disappear out into the hallway. News was spreading too quickly, which meant that she would have to act evermore hastily… She hid her royal clothing in a shelf between a wall and some cobweb-covered boxes. When she was sure there was nobody in eye's view of the closet, she slipped out of both doorways and headed for the kitchens_._

Upon arrival, she stood still at the entrance. Unsure of how she would request the Fire Lord's bedtime goblet, she would have to think for a moment before entering… Opening the door seconds later, she stood at the entrance and shut the door behind her. With her hair still down, Ursa was able to cover a fair portion of her face and she had hoped that it would be enough to disguise her identity until the task had been completed.

She had to say, she wasn't used to not being looked at upon her occasional entrance here… However, she pushed the feeling of unfamiliarity to the back of her mind and walked forwards. "The Fire Lord's late night beverages, please?" she requested in a higher-pitched voice than her own.

A large female kitchen worker turned towards her, wearing a fixated expression of impatience Ursa made the mistake of frowning at. Receiving a frightening glare, the woman grabbed up a tray and stormed towards her. "You're late, wench!" she said in a deep, gruff voice; the worker shoved the tray into Ursa's front, very nearly pushing her over.

Grabbing it quickly before the contents of the goblet spilt, Ursa glared indignantly at the worker as she walked away. The time Azulon usually decided to rest was 10 minutes away!! Biting back a furious retort, she rushed out of the kitchens and towards the bedchambers.

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Ursa turned the corner she knew all too well and advanced through the hallway to the Fire Lord's bedchamber. Suddenly, one of the elite guards that had rushed inside Ozai's bedchamber earlier on put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. "… Do I know you?"

Ursa, her hair masking some of her features, did not turn to look at the guard. She replied to his question with the same higher, unremarkable-sounding tone of voice. "No."

The guard looked towards his partner, who merely shrugged and stated, "Probably just one of the Fire Lord's waitresses…"

The guard, nonetheless, frowned at Ursa. "I swear I've seen you before..."

"I work in the storage crypts of the palace… I've been told to take this to the Fire Lord. They sometimes send me on small errands… … you may have seen me then…" Ursa replied.

The guard's partner merely shrugged when the guard passed a glance to him. The guard removed his hand from her shoulder. "Good to hear, the palace is real busy at the moment and we need somebody to take care of the smaller errands around here. Be back here when you're done and we'll think of something."

"Yes… of course." Ursa bowed her head one too many times at them before walking away and up the corridor.

"… Odd, that one…" the guard said; turning to his partner who, yet again, merely shrugged his shoulders.

"Must be from the colonies…" his partner replied, turning back to where he was originally facing.

"Probably…" the guard muttered in reply, also turning back to the way he was originally facing.

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Ursa had placed a scroll on the left side of the tray, and she had placed the beverage on the right side of the tray… Feeling sick, she continued to ascend forwards. Eventually making it nearby the Fire Lord's quarters, she looked ahead with uncertainty… She brushed it off. Fire Lord, step-father, whatever the position, he had ordered her son's death… His decision _had_ to be diverted, no matter what…

Ursa approached the door to the Fire Lord's quarters… Unpleasant images concerning the outcome of this visit reeling through her mind uncontrollably… _"Oh, _what_ is going on?!"_ Ursa had to think to herself, holding a hand to her forehead. She had gone _much_ too far while confronting Ozai, to the point where she had triggered her white fire and almost burnt him alive with it… Ursa was _sure_ that after giving firebending up, the danger of that happening would not return… however, it seemed like she was wrong.

Forcing her mind back to her mission; Ursa stepped close to the double doors of Fire Lord Azulon's bedchamber… A young girl's noxious screaming suddenly echoed in her mind; somehow making Ursa tense with hesitance as she placed a hand against one of the doors. She suddenly felt sick with fear… Not because of at the task at hand, necessarily, but for her father-in-law's life… It seemed futile, if not reasonably _possible_, to expect to leave the room still lily-white once she had entered.

"_I'm not a murderer…"_ she chanted in her mind, forcing the pained screaming still ringing around her skull to the back of her thoughts as she knocked on the door.

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"What?" snapped a familiar voice from behind the doors, Ursa took a deep breath as she opened the door.

"My apologies, my lord, I am here to serve you your late night beverage…" Ursa said, again using her fake voice.

Azulon did not look up from his bed. "Bring it in…" he ordered gruffly.

Ursa walked inside, closing the door behind her and placed the tray on Azulon's bedside table. "Also, my Lord… The High Councillor passed by and, not wishing to disturb you, told me to be sure that this contract reaches you…" Ursa took the scroll from the left-hand side of the tray and handed it to Azulon.

Not even looking at Ursa as he unrolled the parchment, he skimmed through the words inked onto the dull sheet. "My brush and ink?" Azulon continued; taking a slight glance at what he thought was a mere servant. Frowning slightly, he held his hand out for the ink pot and the writing brush located on a writing table beside the wall. Once Ursa handed them to him, he scrawled his signature quickly underneath the end of the final symbol.

Ursa took the ink, brush and re-rolled contract from him. "Thank you." Then, when Azulon had turned to order her away, she put the tray onto Azulon's writing desk and spoke using her normal tone of voice. "I must speak with you, Fire Lord Azulon." Ursa brought her hair away from her face and tied it to its usual style.

"Ursa!?" Azulon gave a start, horrified. "What is the meaning of this? Why are you dressed in such _filth_!?"

"I had to disguise myself to avoid my husband…" Ursa bowed her head. "He is being unreasonable…"

Azulon sneered. "The wretched boy abuses what little order he has in this palace…"

"I've noticed…" Ursa said bleakly in reply.

"You requested to speak with me?" Azulon queried, sitting up and interlacing his fingers.

Ursa looked at him, temporarily unsure of what to say. When she opened her mouth to speak, Azulon interjected with a simple request of his own. "Sit down."

Ursa, looking momentarily confused, drew up the nearest chair and sat down as requested. "I'm sure you are aware of Ozai's obsession to serve his nation…"

"He wants the throne for himself…" Azulon muttered in disdain. Ursa's eyes widened for a moment. "His nettlesome, _constant_, selfish pining… his use of my granddaughter… it is all a façade behind an upcoming, treasonous act for Prince Ozai's own indulgence… I do not suppose you were aware of this?" Azulon's eyes were now on Ursa's vague expression.

"_You're only _half_-correct, Azulon…"_ Ursa had to think to herself. She chose her words carefully. "I was made aware tonight, when I found out about our son's sentence to death."

"Then you understand?" Azulon asked in a low voice.

"No…" Ursa kept a straight voice. "Truthfully, my lord, I do not… Please do not mistake my concern for defiance; it is merely a mother's plea." Ursa's hands shook as she clasped them together. "Zuko does _not_ deserve to die!"

"I'm sorry…" Azulon looked away.

"My lord, there _has_ to be another way of dealing with Ozai!" Ursa spoke desperately, about ready to spring out of her seat.

"There is not." Azulon said, impatience emerging in his voice.

Ursa paused, and then dropped onto the floor from her chair. "Ozai only wishes to please you _and_ his nation-"

"But he is _not_!" Azulon snapped, making Ursa stand and draw back slightly. "If my son wishes to please me, he will stay out of the way and _stop wasting my time_!"

"_Tell_ him so." Ursa replied from where she stood.

"I have told my son _one too many times_… He does not listen to _anyone_. I must teach him a lesson in respect, and this is the only way to put him in his place…" Azulon muttered bitterly.

"No… _No_…" Ursa shook her head as she spoke.

"There is nothing you can do about it, Princess Ursa… … Leave me…" Azulon laid back down, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.

Ursa bowed her head. Why would _nothing_ work out in her favour? Looking up again, she decided to try Azulon's patience once more. "Zuko is not to blame for my husband's insolence…"

Azulon sighed, a small lick of fire emerged from his mouth and dissolved in the air, "Sacrifices must be made…" he sat up once more. "I know you are a kind soul, Ursa… Much like my son, Iroh and your father, Kuzon was… But my decision is _final_. Leave me." Azulon laid down once again, closing his eyes.

Ursa sadly acknowledged the state of the situation. If Azulon did not die tonight, Zuko would… _Zuko had to come first…_

Ursa turned around, took Zuko's dagger out from her left sleeve and turned, throwing herself onto the old man. Her emotions ran frantic through adrenaline as she fought to hold Azulon down; she _had to_ keep her firebending under control. If Azulon were marked, it would arouse suspicion against Ozai and Zuko may suffer for it before she could reach him… With her whole weight now on his ribcage and arms, she unsheathed the knife, held her hand against his thyroid and rested the dagger against the centre of his neck.

"Firebend, and don't think I'll hesitate to make your death more painful!" Ursa muttered clearly and viciously.

Azulon, in a state of shock, was rendered unable to speak. He'd wondered just what had hit him. This was _not_ the innocent little girl he'd known and ordered raised from the age of 9.

Holding the knife closer, Ursa let go of his thyroid and reached inside her right sleeve. She took a small vial of poison out from it… The poison was a 'silent killer' given to her by Ozai… Wherever in the world her husband had managed to obtain such a shady substance was beyond her and, in all honesty, she had not wanted to think about what kind of dark objects Ozai might be secretly stocking somewhere in the palace. Flicking the lid away, careful to watch where it landed, she brought the vial to Azulon's lips. "Open your mouth." Ursa muttered, again using a vicious, clear voice.

Azulon's eyes remained wide with fear and surprise, lips firmly pursed. Ursa growled and swiftly drew the knife away from Azulon's windpipes and against his jugular vein. "_Open… your mouth!_"

Azulon did as instructed. "_Ursa-!!_" Azulon, voice rasp and suffused with fear, did not have time to finish his sentence as Ursa poured the liquid poison from the vial against his lower lip and into his throat.

Azulon began to choke. Ursa sheathed the knife, leapt from him and Azulon sat up, holding on to his throat wheezing and coughing. Ursa, picking up the small lid of the vial, put them both back into her sleeve and ran to the double doors, burying her face in them as Azulon continued to die…

"Treason…" Azulon spluttered from the floor, a clawed-hand outstretched towards Ursa, voice lowering. "I did not expect it of _you_…"

Ursa's eyes shut in anguish. She untied her hair and replied in a small voice. "Neither did I…" She walked over to the dying lord's writing desk and took the scroll from the tray resting upon it. Unrolling the contract, she held it up against the air and, inflaming a section of the parchment with her fingertips, using her fingernails as a guide; she carefully set the whole section alight with fire. Azulon's dying spluttering had ceased, and he now looked up at Ursa with narrowed eyes, he had mere minutes left before death would take him away…

Ursa absorbed the fire back into her fingertips; the previous symbols written on the parchment had disappeared and replaced themselves with new ones. "Your dying wish, Azulon…" she stated. "You will be succeeded by your _second_ son… I'm sorry it had to come to this…"

She looked towards the door, not sure if she was being overheard or not. Deciding her lord husband would probably not want to listen to the sounds of his father being assassinated any less than she would, she continued, "But not if I can leave this palace, _with_ my children, before I am forced to see him once again…"

Azulon laughed silently. "You_ dirty_…_ little_…_ traitor…_ You will _never_ make it out of here alive, let alone with your _children_!"

"Really?" Ursa asked in an amused voice, masking all mixtures of emotions she desperately wanted to let go of.

"Wherever I am going…" Azulon's eyes dropped closed as he muttered his final words. "You will be there _very shortly_, dear daughter-in-law…" He then fell silent.

Ursa approached Azulon after a few moments. Kneeling down, she reached a hand out slowly towards him. Azulon suddenly grabbed her wrist, making her shriek in fright as he dropped dead. The damage to Azulon was internal. No blood had been expelled through all his coughing, nothing suspicious had appeared on his skin and no signs of a struggle were evident… He appeared as serene as though he had merely died in his sleep…

Prying the dead Fire Lord's fingers from her wrist, she hauled Azulon onto his bed and, shifting him to a sleeping position, neatly threw his bed sheet over him. Looking at the Fire Lord's still face, she grimaced as a single tear fell from each of her eyes. "I'm _so_ sorry…" She walked to the writing table once again and, picking the goblet up, considered whether drinking some of the beverage or not would draw less suspicion… Deciding against it, she replaced the goblet and walked towards the double doors.

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Ursa shut the doors behind her, holding back a cry of shock at what she had just done… Scarcely _believing_ what she had just done…

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**So, this is as far as I go for now... I honestly did not think I would submit this story, the characters all seem to be a little OOC to me so far as I've had to write them all in a desperate situation. Not being an aspiring, let alone experienced, writer I've probably muddled a few of the character's emotions and made the chapters seem a little rushed. I'll let the reviewers be the judge of that, though... Hope you're enjoying the fanfic so far!**

**Onwards from here, it's going to get a little more interesting. Promise.**

**I might have the next chapter up by this Sunday. ****Ursa will be attempting to leave the palace with her children, but it will not be _at all_ easy...**

**Happy Halloween, everybody!**

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**_I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender._**

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	4. All Too Easy

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Ursa didn't have long to gather her thoughts together… she looked ahead as she heard footsteps echo through the hallway. She saw the elite guards from earlier on running towards her. Doing all she could manage to conceal her shock, she broke away from the doorway and walked towards them, stopping as they did.

"We heard the Fire Lord coughing! It didn't sound good… What happened?" the first guard asked, sounding mildly suspicious. He then frowned, narrowing his eyes while studying her. "Why are you shaking?"

Ursa gripped her left hand with her right, as though it might help cease her shaking. "I-"

"What's the matter with you? You look like you've seen a ghost…" the second guard continued.

"_Thankfully, the spirits have spared me of a haunting… so far."_ "Oh, it's nothing _awful_… The Fire Lord was just having a… spluttering fit of sorts. He is fast asleep and well now…" Ursa held her right hand to her temple. "However, I do not feel so well myself…"

The guards looked at each other. Ursa concealed a frown. These guards were beginning to annoy her… It was their sole duty to be sure that the members of the royal family are kept safe from harm; as such they were more interrogative than most guards. She could not afford to be discovered now…

"I dunno… It sounded pretty bad to me." The second guard said in an inquisitive tone.

Ursa knew they felt suspicious; this would not end well… "Honestly, it-it's-"

"I'm going to have a look…" the first guard announced in an authoritative, yet edgy tone of voice. He swept past her and entered Azulon's bedchamber, closing the door behind him.

Ursa tried not to let her guilt or panic show. She looked to the second guard with a calm expression; he was watching her like a hawk… He frowned around a second after she had turned to look at him, with this she responded with a frown of her own. "… _Wait_ a minute…" the guard whispered roughly.

The second guard was interrupted as the doors burst open. Both he and Ursa almost leapt out of their skins and spun around to look at the first guard. His eyes were slightly wide and his lips slightly parted. "Hi-His pulse… The Fire Lord… he's _dead_!!"

The second guard looked back at Ursa, wearing a strange expression of awe. It took Ursa a moment to notice that she was not responding accordingly to the situation... The two guards were both looking at her now, each wearing a frown and drawing closer… She was giving herself away! What would she do? Did she have the time with which to do it? … Did she _need_ to think about what to do, wasn't it obvious?

The second guard grabbed her roughly by the arm. "You're _no_ servant, are you?" he muttered in that same rough whisper.

Ursa responded the only way she could think. She ducked to the ground and tripped the man over, causing him to let go of her in shock.

"Hey!" the first guard yelled out. Watching Ursa sprint away, he took a stance and aimed carefully, releasing a fireball from his fist.

Quickly dodging to the side, Ursa spun around a corner and ran down the hallway. She could hear the guard's hurried footsteps and the words "Murder, murder, alert Prince Ozai!" echo around her.

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Princess Azula woke up from the end of her bed with a start. She heard footsteps pass by her doorway… She scrambled off her bed and opened the door to her quarters slightly, peering out into the hallway. She saw two guards running around a corner and two, maybe three sets of footsteps approaching from the opposite corner. Slipping out of the doorway and closing it behind her, she ran behind a nearby pillar and peered around it slightly upon hearing voices to try and catch some of the conversation.

"I just don't believe it…" said the deep voice of what sounded like a bodyguard.

"You're not the only one…" replied a softer, more solemn voice from an armoured guard.

"Do you really think it _was_ the servant girl Delun mentioned?"

"Has to be… The fact that she ran from the scene of the crime like that is enough evidence, if you ask me…"

"I dunno… I mean no disrespect, but the Fire Lord's pretty old. He probably died just a while after she entered the room and the poor thing ran for her life… I mean, they didn't uncover any evidence of murder, did they?"

"Not one scratch… If you ask me, though, something smells fishy… All the storage crypt servants have been gathered together, they're all present and Gen-Dai and Delun haven't identified her."

Their footsteps began drawing closer to Azula as the two men walked down the hallway. "Even if she is guilty of the offence, she'll be long gone by now…"

"… Although…" Both sets of footsteps stopped, Azula turned to see the smaller of the two men turn to face the taller. "Gen-Dai told me to keep this a secret; so if I tell you _don't tell a soul_, or it could be off with all three of our heads…"

A deep, booming chuckle came from the bodyguard. "All o' Gen-Dai's 'secrets' end up turning into palace gossip… But I'm curious, so I'll keep it a sworn secret."

There was a pause. "Well… Gen-Dai thinks the servant girl looked a _lot_ like Princess Ursa…"

Azula frowned and peered around a little more. The bodyguard's mask was in his left hand, he was looking to his partner in shock. He then burst out laughing. "Princess Ursa? That's a good one! She wouldn't hurt a fly. Why, I remember _years_ back when she brought that poor liger cub in from the outskirts and went to the Fire Lord to ask if she could keep it. She was a good girl… better than most, in fact."

"I wouldn't put it past us, though… Remember that commotion between the Fire Lord and Prince Ozai earlier on?"

The bodyguard responded with a nod.

"Word's been going 'round that Ozai's been giving suspicious orders against his wife to stop her from leaving the palace with the young Prince Zuko and Princess Azula…"

The bodyguard gave a sceptical moan. "Probably just rumours… If they were true, we'd be given the orders as well, wouldn't we?"

The guard sighed. "Yeah… suppose we would…"

Azula almost sneered as she watched the guards turn a corner. How incompetent they were… A huge game of treason was being played from literally _right_ behind their backs. Being as chatty as they were, what did they honestly expect? Azula walked out from behind the pillar, keeping her ears sharp for any noise, and headed towards her grandfather's bedchamber.

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Ursa draped a travelling cloak around her shoulders. She had quickly changed back into her royal clothing after the elite guards had, thankfully, mistaken her footsteps for other fleeing servants and had stopped to question them. She decided it best to leave no trace of evidence in case she was still void of any accusation; as such she had managed to dispose of the poison vial and the servant's clothes, she had decided to keep the dagger and the deed to the Fire Nation throne hidden well inside her robes.

However; even if the guards might now be relentlessly chasing her she would _not_ leave without Zuko and Azula, which brought her to her next mission… Ursa pulled the hood of the cloak over her head and slipped quietly and unnoticed out of the servant's quarters.

After walking a small distance towards the bedchambers, she walked down a shadowed, deserted hallway which was dimly lit in the centre by the moon shining through small crevices in the ceiling. She heard footsteps, and two voices in conversation… She recognised them as the two elite guards from earlier on. Were they unaware that she was here, or… did they know? As Ursa began to back into the wall, she noticed that they mysteriously stopped talking and walking to the sounds of two loud cracks, one sounding not too long after the other. She saw the guards fall dead to the floor, their eyes wide with shock.

As Ursa let out a sharp intake of breath and made to run away in panic, she was suddenly hauled into a dark corner by the torso and a warm hand covered her mouth, stifling her screams. Ursa began to struggle and fight against whoever was holding her, but to no apparent avail. Fear ran through her mind; fear for Zuko's life, maybe Azula's? Fear of capture, execution, _her_ life… Just before she could think to firebend; a cold, familiar voice whispered into her left ear and shocked her into standing still. "_Keep your mouth shut_ and stop moving!"

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The doors to Fire Lord Azulon's bedchamber creaked open and shut. His granddaughter scampered over to his bed and looked at him. Sitting down on the bed, she lifted her grandfather's arm slightly; then let it drop back onto the bed. She frowned at him, as though contemplating whether she should be upset or not… She then jumped out of her skin as the doors creaked open again.

Two guards had entered the room, their eyes widened when they saw Azula. The one to her left-hand side spoke up after a few seconds of silence: "Princess Azula! … What are you doing in your grandfather's bedchamber?"

Azula did what came naturally and her shocked expression changed to one of fear and distress. "I… I heard noises outside… I got scared… They said grandfather Azulon had been _killed_… I-I couldn't believe it…" she looked down at the floor, then back up at the guards.

The guards both looked at each other; one wore an expression of pity while the other wore a deadpan, almost sceptical expression… "… I-It's nothing, princess. You can go back to sleep now…"

Azula didn't move. "Where are mother and father? I looked in their rooms on the way here; they're gone…"

The guards frowned, however Azula thought could sense the falseness in their expressions by that fact that the guard wearing the expression of pity was shifting a little; the guard to her left-hand side, the one wearing the sceptical expression, spoke up: "Are you sure…?" he said in a voice of fake uncertainty, he looked to the other guard and took off his helmet, quirking a brow. "_Busy_, do you think?"

The other guard whacked his partner around the head and hissed: "Don't speak of such things in front of the_ princess_-!!"

Azula cut in. "Are you fools going to tell me where my parents are or not?" she said in a monotone.

The sceptical guard turned to Azula and stood rigidly. "We don't know, princess…" Azula had to give him credit for how sincere he sounded then, but she still wasn't buying it…

Azula raised her eyebrows just before the other guard asked, "Have you asked Prince Zuko?"

"My brother is sleeping…" she then sighed and walked towards them. "Oh well; if you won't tell me. I guess I'll just go back to bed…"

"Good idea, princess. You need sleep. I should think you'll find your parents tomorrow…" the sceptical guard said, sounding a tad more at ease.

Azula walked past them, smirking as soon as her face was out of their sight. She reached the same pillar she hid behind earlier on and rushed behind it when the guards walked off and another four rushed by from the opposite corner. Her grandfather, the monarch of the land, had been murdered; and her mother was a suspect… And she would _not_ pass up an opportunity to boast about it all to her brother in the morning.

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Ursa held her breath as three guards walked down the shadowed hallway. They approached the two dead guards, only noticing them upon approaching the end of the hallway. They both spoke in whispered panic to each other before rushing away around the opposite corner.

"The deed?"

Ursa jumped, she had forgotten about her husband's deathly-quiet presence behind her. Not turning to face him and not giving him a reply, she began to consider her options.

"The deed?" Ozai repeated, his voice lost a hint of patience that second time he said it…

Ursa took the deed from out of her robes and handed it to him. There was no point in keeping it… What's done is done, and who knows what Ozai would do if she left the palace with it? He would certainly never allow his _brother_ to claim the throne…

Ozai stepped out into the irradiated centre of the hallway, looking hungrily at the contract as he unrolled it. "The wonders of heat-sensitive ink… The only useful present I ever _did_ receive from my brother, really…" he re-rolled the contract and pocketed it. Ursa thought, with a hint of relief, he would then walk away.

_All too easy…_

Yet… he just stood there, his back to her… Ursa walked away slowly. In a split second, Ozai grabbed her wrist and yanked her in front of him. "Don't you want to see the children before you go?" those words sounded strangely subtle…

"Yes… I would like to say goodbye to them." She waited for Ozai to release her wrist, he did not…

"May I please-?" she gasped as Ozai abruptly snatched her other wrist with his other hand.

Ozai raised his eyebrows. "How do I know you can be trusted?"

Ursa frowned before looking him sharply in the eyes. Ozai responded with a wicked grin. "I heard everything…"

Ursa's eyes widened. She had openly told Azulon of her intentions to take Zuko and Azula away… Why did she have to do that, even _if_ she was 'sure' nobody would be listening in? _"How could I have been so stupid?"_

"… You listened in on your _own father's_ murder?" Ursa said, slightly disgusted.

Ozai laughed lightly. "You sound strangely concerned, my wife, being _the murderer_…" Ursa scowled at that.

Ozai decided to spare a short explanation: "When I left you, I went straight to my father's bedchamber. Curiously enough, he was not there… Neither were the elite guards, for that matter… I waited behind a corner. When I saw you enter, I listened in."

"But…" Ursa frowned, "the elite guards…"

"Those fools, as sharp as their hearing may be, can not do their job properly… need I say more?" Ozai smirked towards them.

"… You've ordered them killed!" Ursa said in a shocked voice.

"Correct… All evidence must be destroyed. Isn't that right?" he smiled warmly back at her. "Now, dear wife… I don't recall ever permitting you to leave with the children…"

Ursa gave him a blank expression back. "My lord and husband, I don't recall you ever ordering me against it…"

"I didn't need to…" Ozai said lightly, Ursa frowned a little. "You swore to leave dutifully, _as banishment instructs_, if you would have to assassinate my father…"

"Your point? I have _every right_ to take them away, Ozai…" but Ursa's words sounded as weak as Ozai considered them.

"Come now…" Ozai smirked. "I think we both know you are wrong."

"I will not leave until I have my children!" Ursa yelled at Ozai, struggling against his vice-like grip on her wrists. Ozai's expression contorted when she set her hands alight.

"Listen to me!!" he yanked her closer to him, making her stand still again and extinguish the fire in her hands. "There are guards everywhere!" Ozai said viciously. "If they see you with Zuko, they will bring you both to me alive. I'll _kill_ him, _right in front of your eyes_."

"And Azula…?" Ursa said, biting back an enraged response to his threat.

Ozai smirked maliciously, "Well, that's out of the question…"

Ursa ignored the jest of that reply, keeping her mind focused on getting her children away from this monster… "And what if I manage to escape? With both Zuko _and_ Azula?"

"What if Azula doesn't _want_ to go with you?" Ozai replied, sneering.

"… It's for her own good." Ursa said, momentarily uncertain.

"Or is it merely for _your_ own good? Ursa, that is so selfish…" Ozai spoke patronisingly…

Ursa merely looked away. "Selfish… You _would_ know the word, wouldn't you Ozai?"

Ozai snarled; his head drawing closer to hers. "Maybe I should just burn them _both_!?"

Ursa swiftly faced him again, a look of horror on her face. "Ozai, _no_-!"

Ozai gave off a laugh. "Maybe _now_ you have acknowledged _who_ exactly is in power here! I will be the new Fire Lord in a matter of days; our marriage has been terminated and you are barely worth more than a useless peasant!"

Ursa gave him a bitter look, changing the subject. "And I suppose you planned to stop me from taking my children from the very beginning?"

Ozai suddenly appeared calmer, he looked away. "I have no choice… If you take them, they will be targeted. There are too many risks involved with taking them, some risks of which you are not aware of… They are safer here than with you…"

Ursa frowned, trying to face him… Oh, how she wished he would just let her go. Just _what_ was going on in Ozai's mind? He seemed sincere in what he had said, yet she could not bring herself to trust him…

Ozai closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. "I've known you for almost 20 years of your life, Ursa…"

Ursa suddenly felt enraged… how could she have considered _trusting_ the man who was _once_ her husband, the man who would murder his own _children_ to get what he wants… so wrapped up in his own problems that he barely spared a concerned thought for anyone in his own _family?_ She would _not_ be played for a mindless, doting fool… She raised her eyebrows. "You mean you truly paid attention to me outside of my presence in your bed? This is surprising news to me…"

Ozai's face then warped into a frightening expression, he turned and literally snarled his next words at Ursa. "Do as you wish! Get the children killed! Whatever happens, I am _still_ the Fire Lord!!"

If Ozai was not still holding her wrists, Ursa would have attacked him at that very moment. She merely resorted to giving him the dirtiest look she could manage. His expression relaxed and he released his grip on her wrists, shoving her into the wall. "We're finished…"

Ursa looked ahead as Ozai walked away, feeling slightly bewildered… Half from a small pang of guilt towards his sudden outburst and half from wondering how she could ever have _loved_ that man… Needless to say, she felt a little conflicted. Whether she _should_ or not, she somehow wasn't sure after Ozai had said his last words…

"This fine gentleman will escort you out…" Ozai muttered, gesturing to the side as he walked down the corner of the corridor that was free of the two dead bodies.

Ursa frowned, all feelings of confliction momentarily forgotten. "What…?"

Loud, almost metallic-sounding footsteps caught her attention. They were approaching from the place Ozai had gestured to, the place where the two elite guards lay dead on the floor... The 'gentleman' Ozai had spoken of emerged from behind the wall and stood at the mouth of the hallway. Ursa drew back slightly, eyes wide.

The man was _huge_; he had to be around 7 feet tall! Accompanied by his formidable height, his appearance seemed none too friendly either… He possessed what looked like a tattoo on his forehead and a metallic right arm and leg. Ursa stared ahead at him and then, deciding to take her chances while he seemed to think that she would just come quietly, turned around and sprinted full-speed out of the moonlight and down the opposite end of the dark hallway.

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**_J. Idanian_****_:_ Hope this chapter answered your question! If not, don't be afraid to say.**

**So, it took a **_**little**_** longer than expected… My apologies; I have my mock exams next week and school is, as usual, an absolute nightmare…**

**I was going to make this chapter twice as long as it is now to make it worth the wait, but this really did seem like an appropriate cliff-hanger closing. **

**Thanks for reading!**

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_**I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.**_

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	5. Gone

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The old Fire Lord lay dead still…

His youngest son stared down at him; the man he had looked _up_ to and tried to impress all his life… much like his daughter, Ozai could not register any grievous emotion… The only thing the soon-to-be monarch could think about was the stench the corpse would soon bring if the medical examiners and the Fire Sages did not arrive soon. He had sent a message by hawk to the Sages; he knew three to be here in the Crater running an errand his father had kept a sworn secret while the remaining two were left to run their always prime errand of guarding the Fire Avatar's temple.

His father had been dead for a couple of hours now… The skin of his face and hands was paling from an already pale apricot to a light, grey-ish colour. Ozai found that he no longer felt any remorse for his departed, rotting father the moment he had 'finalised' his feelings for his wife… So why did he still feel unhappy? This chain of events was sure to bring Ozai the throne and the most powerful title in the Fire Nation, the deed had been placed on the side of Azulon's bed with a quill and spilt inkpot located on the floor in a clever attempt to fake something of a _true_ final wish.

Though in all his anticipation, the young prince's thoughts kept drifting back to those moments where his family was actually _happy_… Those moments where Ursa was his princess… Those moments that he could no longer have again… His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on one of the bedroom doors. Ozai turned, walked to the doors and opened them both to reveal the very people he had been waiting for… "Greetings, Prince Ozai…"

Ozai bowed his head and chest forward slightly; then gestured for them all to enter. The two groups also bowed and accepted the gesture… The Great Sage was the first to approach Azulon, while the other two sages present followed up behind him and then the examiners. All three sages kneeled in respect to the dead Fire Lord and his soon-to-be body examiners followed in accordance, this was a tradition Ozai couldn't help but find rather worthless in meaning… Once a human is dead, their soul has left their body… no _living_ soul truly respects the empty shell of what was _once_ something great… why go to all the energy to kneel in reverence to a dead body? But nonetheless, Ozai soon followed so as not to draw attention to himself…

As they all stood, The Great Sage nodded to the examiners and they walked in front of the sages. The Great Sage turned to Ozai. "Prince Ozai, where is the rest of your family?" he asked out of curiosity.

"My wife and children are all asleep in their quarters, as far as I'm aware…" Ozai answered. "I did not wish to wake them…"

The Great Sage nodded and folded his arms as the examiners continued their work. They stood after several long minutes; one turned to Ozai and spoke up after several seconds. "This… servant girl you mentioned… what weapons did she have on her person?"

"I'm still not aware of the type of weapon this woman carried, let alone if she even _had_ one at all… The two elite guards who last saw her have not been seen since they last reported what they had witnessed to me." Ozai replied, every word spoken with a strange sincerity about it.

"But surely…" the youngest sage frowned. "Your father is a healthy man, despite his age; though I mean no disrespect…" he was quick to add. "There must be _some_ evidence of an attack…"

"As far as we are aware, there is no evidence of murder… My guess; is that the girl most likely fled in fear of her own life…" another examiner stated.

Ozai looked down, plastering a look of sadness on his face. He then looked up several seconds later and addressed his favourite issue. "My brother is still grieving over his lost son; the country will go into chaos at the mere mention of my father's death, what should be done…?"

The Great Sage bowed his head slightly. "This turn of events will have to be kept a sworn secret, my Prince, until the elder prince can return to reclaim the throne…"

The Sage who had not yet spoken had noticed the spilt ink on the floor and saw the deed to the throne sitting open near a pillow. Picking it up, he read through the entire thing as the Prince and the Great Sage both continued to speak to each other. The Sage interrupted the two as they went into the beginning of a debate, his voice strained in awe. "Our lord… He wrote a will… on his very _deathbed_…"

The Sage handed the deed to Prince Ozai. As Ozai read the deed, his breath caught in his throat. He handed the deed over to the Great Sage and looked ahead. The examiners and the youngest Sage stood in apprehension and the Great Sage read through the deed. After several long seconds, the elderly Sage spoke aloud. "Then… it is finalised." The Great Sage lowered the deed and turned to Ozai, a solemn expression on his face. "Our new monarch, the new ruler of our land; is to be you, Prince Ozai…"

Ozai's eyes widened slightly; he then looked towards the ground again. The audience around him did not know any better, and assumed that the young prince _truly_ felt the pressure of such a title that would be enforced upon him by his father. He then looked up; a small, solemn smile creeping onto his face. "I will do my best for this glorious nation…"

The Great Sage nodded. The youngest Fire Sage, though he dare not show it, felt deeply, _deeply_ concerned for his nation…

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Ursa was not used to running for this length of time. She had kept up this pace for quite some time now; through the windows she had passed, dawn could visibly be seen approaching… she was surprised to see that despite the excitement of the event, the corridors of the palace were now completely clear… Though she felt ready to drop, she forced herself to keep running. The metallic footsteps that could be heard rushing a fair distance behind her coaxed her into the laborious task… However, it was not only the physical pressure of the run that made Ursa feel ready to collapse…

Ozai was right; her children were not safe with her… But how much safer were they with Ozai than with her? It was hard to say… Though how could she expect to leave with Zuko and Azula while this man, this _thing_, was pursuing her? As she had wondered just before she'd slain Azulon, why _would_ nothing work out in her favour? Why would only those with selfish or cruel motives prevail over Ursa's own, fair requests? Zuko was safe, yes, but for how much longer…?

Ursa flung herself through a door with all her strength, closing it behind her before running halfway down an old, dark passageway and stopping to hide and rest behind a marble statue. She took a deep breath and sank to the equally marble floor; she couldn't run forever, she was going to have to make her decision _now_. She heard the door fling open, sounding as though it was now barely on its hinges, then heard the sound of metallic footsteps pound not too far away from her location…

She could literally feel herself sweat as she wondered what she would do… If she ran now, she_ might_ be able to say goodbye to her children and leave the palace on her _own_; even if Ozai trusted this man with her safety, Ursa certainly didn't… But if she was clever, she could bide herself some time… not enough to take them both with her, but certainly some time to say goodbye and make her leave… Her eyes shut tight, pained by the thought of leaving her babies both behind with the monster of a (soon-to-be) monarch that was her husband… She couldn't dwell on her grief much longer as she picked up upon the approaching footsteps again…

A sudden thought occurred to Ursa which made her eyes widen; she _had_ heard of this man! Through gossip when she was a child, of a man with a unique firebending ability; that could be used through an overdeveloped _third eye_… She then noticed pebbles in a container beside her, and it gave her an idea; she quietly stood to her feet and picked two up carefully; she flinched as the mere, small scraping sound this gave off echoed through the hallway. She heard the footsteps cease as attention was brought to her location… Thankfully, it was dark enough for the sight of a small object to be missed… she skimmed the two pebbles across the floor just as the metallic footsteps started again, increasing in speed; they came to a sudden halt yet again as the combustor registered the sound they had made.

He ran just ahead of her, but as a pebble shifted from its position in the container, he turned back and fixed his gaze on Ursa. He ran back towards her. In a state of panic, Ursa grabbed the bowl of the container and threw it, pebbles and all, directly at the giant's face just when he came within a three foot range of her. The brass bowl vibrated as it connected with the combustor's head; he snarled in pain and fell back, clutching to his third eye. Ursa flung herself around him and sprinted away to the opposite end of the corridor, knowing the location of the bedchambers to be not too far away…

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Azula groaned. She walked back towards her quarters, opened the door and threw herself onto her bed. She'd walked _everywhere_ and there had been no sign of her mother; or, in fact, _anyone_… All the thrill of the situation had died down everywhere and as dawn approached, the tired young princess had almost lost all hope of finding out what had really happened, or even what was going on right _now_; it was frustrating her to the point of sleep. As she was about to drift off, she felt a hand on her back nudge her awake. She looked up and rubbed her eyes, what she next saw snapped her eyes wide open. "Daddy?"

"Azula…" he muttered in a low voice, as though they were being overheard. Azula couldn't help but glance around curiously for a second before turning back to face her father. "Terrible treason has occurred tonight…" he continued in that same low mutter, "and now, your mother is trying to take you away from me…"

"… No! I want to be here with you!" Azula cried out in outrage.

Ozai gave her a harsh "Ssh!" and stormed away to close her bedchamber door.

"… I'm sorry, father, continue…" Azula whispered as he sat back down on her bed; she crossed her legs and sat up straight, trying to look regal.

"I'll have to leave you alone; I have things to take care of… But, I want you to wait in here and keep a lookout. Should she try to take you away, refuse. Refuse like your life depends on it, refuse in honour of _us_. She has _no_ right to separate us… But whatever the outcome, should you see your mother _at all_…"

Ozai paused for quite some time; could he trust Ursa to leave on her own? No, that wasn't possible… she was a traitor and she wanted his heirs, she could not be trusted… He sighed; Azula shifted on the spot as a small sign of impatience that her father, luckily, did not respond to. "Let me know…" he then stood up and left the room, leaving the door open behind him as he spun around the right-hand corner.

Azula frowned, then groaned in frustration and threw herself back down. Her father had been far too vague; _what was going on_?

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Ursa hid behind a pillar as she watched Ozai turn a corner; perhaps to meet up with her three-eyed pursuer? When she was sure she was out of sight, she slipped away and into Iroh's chambers. Seeing his desk and a brush, inkpot and a piece of parchment conveniently placed together, she wrote her brother-in-law a rushed note on the events of the _morning_ and had requested, though she was sure she needn't, that he would watch over Zuko for her. "All my love…" Ursa muttered quietly as she wrote those exact same words on the parchment, followed by her name.

Capping the inkpot and placing the brush down, she waited a moment for the ink to dry before slipping the note in the one place she _knew_ her brother-in-law would find it… under his tea tray.

She walked to the door, opened it and looked around… Strange… the footsteps had died down completely… She frowned, feeling slightly suspicious… Deciding to take her chances, knowing that she couldn't stay in Iroh's quarters forever, she walked out carefully and then rushed into her own quarters. Contrary to what she thought beforehand, she realised that she _did_ want a few items of material value close with her during her banishment. She looked around, thinking of _anything_ she could take with her… Portraits, drawings, little objects or even trinkets of memorial value? No, those were _too_ valuable for her to lose… She saw an old scroll on basic chi-blocking she had barely even touched that her friend, Chi-Pin, had given her for her 14th birthday… That would do. She reached over to pick it up, then felt her own chi freeze as she heard the door creak open.

"Mother…" Ursa spun around, her eyes wide, and saw Azula standing there… Breathing a sigh of relief, Ursa began to walk over to her. "Azula…"

Azula suddenly stepped back, setting her hands alight with fire and narrowing her eyes. "Don't touch me…"

Ursa stopped and frowned, "… Why, darling?"

Azula rolled her eyes and sniffed. "You know _why_… You want to take me away from my father. Well, I don't _want_ to go with you… I've heard things… … I heard you murdered grandpa…"

Ursa nodded sadly. "I did… For Zuko…" she said softly, as though that resolved the case.

Azula bared her teeth as she spoke. "Why? What's so special about Zuko…? Why did grandpa deserve to die instead of him? Why do you always push everyone aside for _him_?"

Ursa couldn't believe this… How could anyone, young or not, have so little consideration for a _sibling_? "Zuko deserves a chance! Azulon proved himself to be a complete _monster_-!"

"_You're_ the monster here!" Azula screeched, turning Ursa's growing anger into shock. "Not me, not grandpa, _you_!"

"Azula…" Ursa managed to breathe out. "I didn't mean-"

"Well you _did_…" Azula turned and ran down the hallway, turning a corner and heading for her father. As she did, Ursa ran out of the door.

"Azula!" she called after her, running towards the corner. She then stopped and looked back, seeing the door to Zuko's quarters just up ahead… Azula, sadly, would not see reason if Ursa tried to speak with her and she could not afford to be seen with her… What if Ozai would have _Azula_ killed in a spur of impatience, just for talking to her murderous mother…?

"I'm sorry…" she choked out, scrunching her eyes and bowing her head. She was leaving Azula for Zuko _again_, but she was not the one who needed _dire_ help… or at least, that was what _Ursa_ thought. "Goodbye, my love…" she said aloud towards the corner of the room as she rushed towards the door of Zuko's bedchamber, not noticing the pearl dagger he owned drop from her person… She just as quietly, quickly rushed inside the door; leaving it open as she scurried towards Zuko's bed and put a hand on her sleeping son's shoulder, quickly stirring him awake. "Mom?" he said sleepily in a curious tone of voice.

"Zuko;" she lifted him into a sitting position by his arms as she continued in a low voice, "please, my love, listen to me. Everything I've done," she brought Zuko into a tight embrace, "I've done to protect you…"

The boy just lay there against her shoulder; too tired to respond, however he had somehow picked up every word of what she had said… Ursa looked to the side with a worried expression, still embracing Zuko, as she heard footsteps outside. Sitting him up again, Ursa whispered, "Remember this, Zuko. No matter how things may seem to change, _never_ forget who you are."

She let her son go and he merely slumped over in his tired state, looking ahead at her. Ursa gave him a small smile and pulled the hood of her travelling cloak over her head to shield her face as she walked out into the dark hallway, closing the door behind her as she did, leaving her son alone… Somehow, though she did not want to believe it, she felt as though that was the last time she would ever get to see him… she couldn't help but cry; as she brushed her tears away with her hand, she felt another hand grasp her shoulder; Ursa gasped and spun to her side, the hood of her cloak falling down, to see Ozai looking down at her. "Come with me…" with what he said clearly not being a request, Ozai grabbed her arm and forced her to walk along with him.

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"What are you going to do to me…?" Ursa said, her voice hinting towards savagery as Ozai closed the door and turned to face his wife, standing in the centre of the room.

"If you will not leave now, I wish to see you one last time…" Ozai said softly.

"So you _do_ still care…?" Ursa asked, voice equally as soft.

Ozai nodded. "I do…"

"Then _why_ ask me to leave in the first place?" Ursa inquired, raising her brow.

Ozai paused a _little_ too long before he answered that question. "_Surely_ you do not expect to walk in and out of the Fire Lord's bedchambers, murdering him, without the blood on your hands?"

"There's a _real_ reason…" Ursa said, voice bordering impatience.

"… I am not authorised to tell you…" Ozai said meekly.

"That's not good enough." Ursa said. "I went along with that request thinking you didn't truly care, but obviously you still do… You could have taken extra measures to ensure I was not caught, it's your _own_ fault you feel this way!"

"I did not ask for the boy's safety, you did! I granted you that chance, so be a little more grateful!" Ozai spat back in anger, sick of being answered back by a woman.

"Remember Ozai, _you_ are the reason our son was almost killed." Ursa stated simply.

Unable to answer back to that, Ozai merely grunted huskily.

Ursa narrowed her eyes and folded her arms. "… Why are you letting me walk free? The Ozai _I _know wouldn't allow it… What about Zuko? You didn't hesitate to kill _him_ to impress your father…"

"I do not care for the boy the way I care for you." Ozai said impatiently.

Ursa knew he was getting impatient, and she loved it. "I am quite aware of this… but why do you _still_ care for me? I'm a traitorous murderer; I _killed your father_, Ozai!"

"_I don't know!_" Ozai shouted viciously, he took a deep breath a few seconds later. Ursa was playing with his emotions, it was _infuriating_! Who did she think she was? He approached her. "I've been going through a lot. I can't let you die, I… It was a gesture of faith, for helping me secure the throne, understand!?"

Ursa clenched her fists and began to walk towards Ozai. She was going to fully speak her mind, she _had_ to; she wasn't afraid of him… "You are _heartless_… Zuko _loves_ you! Do you even realise how unnecessarily upset he gets trying to please _you_? You were not the perfect son _yourself_, Ozai, so what gives you the excuse to-" The two had met by this time and Ozai had struck Ursa across the face, not wanting to hear a word from _her_ about his father.

Ursa would have hit the wall, which was several feet away, if this was the first slap she had been given that night. Though she could feel her cheek flaring red, she acted as though he had not even touched her. She was fully ready for any bout of violence from her husband and would take it with dignity; knowing that only _he_ thought he knew where her place was. Ozai grabbed her arm and brought her up close to him. "Our children remain with me! Continue to answer back as you are, and I will _kill them_!!"

Empty threats… But Azula and Zuko were a touchy subject with Ursa. If Ursa were to continue to wind Ozai up, he would begin to do the same to her… She lowered her head and looked to the side, eyes narrowed; she was slightly disappointed at her loss of chance to disorient the selfish prince further, but she couldn't take _too_ many chances…

Ozai looked down at Ursa and smirked. Strangely, he couldn't bring himself to hate this mutinous bitch; no matter _what_ sort of rage he felt at her spiteful words. He put a hand under her face and lifted her head to face his. "I did not wish to banish you, Ursa… I feared for my own life. That is the truth…"

Ursa smiled, those words being what she expected to hear. "Thank you… At least I have the _truth_."

Ozai smiled back. It _wasn't_ the truth; the truth was simply off limits to her and parts of it even to _him_, but it would satisfy Ursa in the matter.

Ursa's smile quickly turned into a scowl. Ozai may still love her, but her feelings for him had been missing for hours… "Where is Azula?" she inquired.

"In her quarters…" Ozai then added, with a smirk, "She told me you might be at Zuko's quarters…"

Ursa looked at Ozai; she appeared slightly hurt, but she didn't let the feeling catch her off guard and glowered at her as-good-as-ex-husband. "Don't _lie_ about our daughter, Ozai…"

"What I am telling you is the truth…" Ozai smiled. "She seemed rather upset when she came to me… What did you say to her, Ursa?"

"I said _nothing_!" Ursa snarled.

"Ah, and here I thought she was being unreasonable…" Ozai's smile turned into a satisfied smirk and he walked behind her. "If you haven't made the effort to say _something_ to the child, how _do_ you expect her to feel about you?"

Ursa turned to face him. "… Excuse me?"

"It _is_ only natural… for Azula to rebel against you… a rebellious child is the mirror image of a rebellious mother… Why, you even went against your _own_ standards when you attempted to attack our daughter all those years ago…"

"_I did not attempt to attack Azula!_" Ursa snarled at Ozai. "I was angry at her and the fire…!"

"Just came into your hands…" Ozai chuckled and folded his arms, gratified at her silence to his words. "Azula's only a child; therefore her conscience is divided… I am willing to steer her in the right direction. You do not have to worry about her upbringing. It's not like you could, or ever have, _helped_-"

Ursa struck Ozai across the face. It was uncalled for, but the man was grating on her nerves; belittling her and placing _all_ the blame on her for _one_ mistake… and not one she was happy about…

Ozai merely raised his eyebrows; the slap was not a hard one, and his thoughts had drifted off elsewhere. He looked towards the grated window attached to the wall of the room they were in, the sky had paled… "This is an endless circle of arguments… dawn has arrived and you are _still_ not out of the palace…" He turned to face her.

"In your banishment and throughout my reign, you will not be allowed to return to this nation and live to tell the tale … If when Azula becomes monarch, and believe me she _will_, she wants you back, she will get her wish… But I may have to convince her to go easy on you once we _do_ get you back here…" Ozai smirked at Ursa. Agni, he made her feel sick… "Zuko is permitted to stay… But his rights to the throne will be invalidated, as you already know. Should he present a _single_ sign of treason, he will be banished too. But not before I teach the boy… _a lesson_…"

Ursa glared at Ozai, scowling. "If you hurt Zuko… I will make you _pay_ for it. Trust me…"

Ozai merely smiled. "Goodbye, Ursa…" he kissed her on the lips and as Ursa pushed him away in disgust, she frowned. _"Goodbye? Why now?"_

Ozai smirked. "Take her…"

Before Ursa could react, a loud strike to the side of her head knocked her out cold, she fell to the ground as the metallic assassin appeared in full form directly behind her.

Ozai nodded to the combustor, looked down at Ursa for a few seconds and then handed him a small bag of money. "Keep her safe…" he added gently as he left the room, not once looking back…

The assassin merely grunted and smirked at those words.

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Azula lay on her bed in her quarters; she yawned and rubbed her eyes. Though she felt tired, anticipation kept her awake… though she was told she could not be informed, she wanted to know what would become of her mother. Would she be imprisoned for her crime, banished, sentenced to death? Azula considered all possibilities like she was choosing her answer for a test, unconcerned by the brutality of some of the sentences. Her thoughts were interrupted as her door was opened and her father entered the room.

"She's gone?" Azula asked, sitting up.

"She's gone…" Ozai nodded. "Tell your brother _nothing_ of what happened today, the boy will just become even more of an annoyance if he finds out…"

Azula nodded obediently. "Yes, father…"

Ozai closed the door and smiled softly. Azula _truly_ was the perfect child… he only wished he could have had the perfect wife… Head down, he walked through the hallway and headed outside, desperately needing to satisfy that nagging voice at the back of his head…

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Her mother was gone… Azula lay back down, unsure of what to think… She'd been mad at her mother, and so she _should_ have been for what she had said and done back two years ago… But perhaps, if Azula had been more _reasonable_, she would have been able to say goodbye. Then again… her mother didn't come after her… Azula sniffed, a vicious look formed on her face. She didn't need her mother… her mother didn't _really_ care for her, she just pretended to… Azula left her room and walked down the hallway; no longer tired and hungry for breakfast…

Zuko sat up, the time between his mother speaking to him and the present moment seeming like a mere second… "Mom?" … It hadn't been a second… he threw his bed sheet away and ran towards the door. "Mom!" he opened it and ran out into the hallway. "_Mom_!"

Azula didn't hear her brother and kept walking until she stepped on something… Frowning and looking down, she removed her foot; her eyes widened slightly. Zuko's dagger! She smiled, all the conflicting emotions of her mother's removal in her life suddenly forgotten.

Azula knelt down and picked up the dagger, her face lighting up as she unsheathed the weapon. Just then, she heard hurried footsteps and leant against the pillar, unsure of whom was there… she turned to look and saw her brother, a worried expression on his face, looking around for his mother with his fists clenched. She smirked; oh, he was _so_ clueless… she turned to face him, still leaning against the pillar and holding the dagger behind her back. Zuko turned to face her. "Where's mom?" he asked, his voice filled with worry.

"No one knows…" Azula said simply, turning her head away from him. She held up Zuko's dagger and turned back to face him, smiling deceptively, as she said, "Oh, and last night, Grandpa passed away…" callously and just looked away again, smiling, expression calm.

"Not funny, Azula… You're sick…" Zuko said, pointed at her; he then began to walk towards her as he spoke again. "And I want my knife back, _now_." He made to grab for the weapon…

Azula spun out of the way and held the dagger up, teasing him. "Who's going to make me, _mom_?"

Zuko's eyes widened, but he didn't dwell on that sad feeling of her disappearance for long as he angrily grabbed the dagger from his little sister and ran the way she was facing. Azula merely folded her arms and watched him as he ran… _"__**So**__ clueless…"_ she thought to herself, smirking.

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Ozai looked down at the rippling water of the turtleduck pond, it was completely empty… Where _were_ the accursed creatures? Did they have a place to sleep at night, did they sleep _underwater_, or did they move to another pond…? He sighed; Ursa would know…

Zuko ran out, he saw the back of his father's body. He was standing between the tree and the turtleduck pond you would usually find Ursa near. He was looking over the pond, completely stationary. Zuko clenched his fists, annoyed at the lack of information about what happened to his mother. "Where is she?" he asked.

His father did not look back, he did not even answer his son's question… Zuko's eyes glossed, he looked down… knowing he wasn't going to get an answer…

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With dawn present; the skies of the Fire Nation shone a bright white. Luminous rays of light shone down upon the land below, radiating the large structure of the royal palace located directly in the middle of it … A large man was walking across the path, a mile or so away from the Crater; the unconscious body of a woman was draped in his arms, damp blood had dried a section of her hair and was visible on the left side of her face in long lines coloured deep red.

Minutes later, the man came to a stop at a pair of crossroads. He let out a low, rasping grunt and looked around; wrinkles of impatience formed just below his third eye. He then looked to the side upon hearing a light trotting sound in the horizon; a large carriage, being hauled along by not-so-large ostrich-horses, soon drew up beside him. A small, frazzled, tired-looking man jumped from the carriage and drew himself up to his full 'height' as he stood in front of the towering combustor. "Apologies; these useless horses seem to be on their way to hell…"

The man then looked at the woman, regarding her for a few seconds, before looking back up at the combustor. "This is her?" he asked, though there was really no question about it…

The combustor nodded. To this, the small shady man grinned and turned to the carriage. "Men!"

It took a second before five other equally frazzled men peered out of the carriage all at once. "Meet the would-have-been Fire Lady…"

The men approached the combustor, glancing at the unconscious form of the 'would-have-been Fire Lady' in his arms. A bearded man let out a sexually suggestive whistle. "Foxy-lookin', ain't she?"

Three of the men sounded their agreement while the last, and the most deranged-looking of the group, peered up at the metallic giant of a man. "Little manly to be the Fire _Lady_, ain't she…?" The man then received four swift smacks to the back of his head.

"Agni, Alerio! You couldn't tell what a woman was if one stripped naked!" a man with nose piercings hissed at him, scowling.

The man with piercings continued to rant to Alerio about genders; Alerio soon tired of listening to the man's lisp and turned to look between the combustor and the princess with a mortally confused expression on his face.

The largest man in the group smacked the man with the lisp upside the head as he took the unconscious princess away from the assassin and carried her into the interior of the large wooden carriage. The boss shook the combustor's hand amicably; then turned to his own men. "Lads, keep in mind that Xing Hai is probably gonna want to see the princess _fully_ _clothed_…"

The men caught the hint; they all groaned in unison and the bearded man slammed the door to the carriage behind him. The boss chuckled. "Poor horny buggers ain't had contact with a woman for a while now… Pay's been coming late for us, so we gotta spend our earnings on the necessities while travelling; the whore house seems but a distant dream…" he sighed and looked up at the taller man standing before him, noting the impatience in his expression. The boss reached into a pocket and handed the metallic giant a small pouch of money and turned to the side. "I must commend you, you have done well... The Chain may well wish to call upon you some other time…"

With a nod and a salute, the man climbed onto the half-destroyed wooden mess that was the driver's seat of the carriage. He took hold of two whips, threw them back and sent a vicious strike forwards. With a piercing scream from each ostrich-horse, they both galloped along the path at an erratic speed; the strike of the whip opened a set of healing wounds on their backs and streams of glistening crimson ran down the animal's sides. The poor creatures appeared to be in pain; but they did not _dare_ to stop, let alone faint…

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Ozai was walking back from the turtleduck pond. He had stood there for perhaps a good long hour… it would have been longer if he had more time, but sadly… there were certain _affairs_ that had to be taken care of… He turned a corner, and saw a sight that made him frown. Azula was curled up near the feet of a marble statue of a dragon; she was fast asleep, her light breathing could just be heard through the deserted hallway and her chest rose and fell in rhythm to her breath. Ozai merely sighed and shook his head. He approached Azula, knelt down and slipped his hands underneath the girl's back. He picked his daughter up and carried her to her quarters.

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**YES, I did it! Just like I promised, too.**

**Guys... _5,854_ words... Seriously, thanks for reading. ****Hope you liked it!**

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**_Original Dialogue & Scripting For Episode 7 of Season 2, "Zuko Alone", is copyright to Avatar: The Last Airbender. Written by _****Elizabeth Welch Ehasz**** and directed by ****Lauren Macmullan****.**

**_Avatar: The Last Airbender does not own me... Oh, wait..._**

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	6. Slumber

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The scraping of gravel against the wheels of the carriage echoed in pattern to the small glimmers of light that passed through the crevices of its walls. The inside of the carriage was completely dark; spare the dim light cast by a few small lanterns full of firebeetles. The occupants of the carriage, visible in the obscure light cast by the lanterns, sat in a circle surrounding a Pai Sho board; all five of them engaged in a game…

"Hey, you can't move it there, that's _cheating_!"

A game not necessarily played by the _rules_, that is…

"Oh, it's just because you're _losing_, y'know…" one of them muttered angrily in reply.

The men's boss spoke out from the edge of the carriage. "_Quiet!_ We don't wanna wake her…"

The five men turned to face a corner of the carriage; the only woman present in the caliginous carriage lay sound asleep there; two lanterns present by her feet and by her head; illuminating her still figure.

One of the men grunted. "How long until we reach base?"

"Can't tell… The ostrich-horses go at different speeds depending upon how much you feed 'em… They're doin' it on purpose, I swear…" The Boss finished with a low growl.

A split-second later, the carriage hit a bump in the road; scattering the Pai Sho tiles and knocking the firebeetle lanterns over. The woman gave off a quiet moan, the impact stirring her awake.

The Boss kicked the side of the carriage in frustration; "_Shit!_" then drew his face nearer to the wall and shouted to the driver, "Keep those _damn_ horses under control, for the love of Agni!"

The first thing Ursa noticed when she had fully awoken; was that her entire body was numb and that her vision was blurred… The small glimmers of light passing through the walls of the carriage near blinded her and forced her to narrow her eyes amidst her _already_ feeble vision…

She lifted a hand to feel her head, somehow knowing that a foreign presence was there. A cloth had been wrapped around her head, but why…? She couldn't tell why her body felt so numb… Had she been injured, perhaps? She pulled the cloth away and her eyes widened as she felt a gaping wound, sitting among her hair but still quite discernable… How had it happened…?

Voices were mumbling in the background… was the true volume of their voices actually higher than Ursa was hearing…? In her mind, they seemed untruly muffled… All the questions she fed her thoughts were making her feel dizzy… What was happening to her?

Was she drunk…? No, the last thing she could remember was of her series of treasonous acts and since that time, she had not touched a drop of alcohol… As the events that had occurred the last time she had been conscious played out to her in her memory, reality hit her... and she somehow barely managed to keep what normally would've been a sea of emotions at bay. Through her stupefied state, she somehow found herself capable of wondering… exactly _where_ she was.

The last thing that Ursa could recall remembering; was Ozai… He had spoken to her, he had said goodbye to her, and then… nothing… She had obviously been knocked out, or perhaps had fainted, after that point… Had she been arrested? Kidnapped? Found by a doctor? She just couldn't fathom it out…

"She's awake!" someone suddenly called out.

Ursa caught those words, but they sounded in her ears as though she were half-deaf… She saw faded, dull colours approach her at intervals as the glimmers of light from the carriage walls aided her vision.

"Who are you…?" she asked; though the words came out as a pitiful, feeble mumble to the outside world. She forced herself upright and threw her body against the wall in a drunken fashion. "Stay away!"

But they didn't listen… The Boss spoke up… "She's starting to come around… Our Lord's orders! We need to drug her up again! If she gets her firebending back, we're _all_ in trouble!"

Ursa did _not_ like the sound of that… In her docile state, all she could do was drop limply to the ground on her front and stagger away a few paces on her hands and knees before she felt herself being roughly hauled sideways and up. She released a strained, savage cry and attempted to struggle against the men, her vision regained a little more as they forced her to lie on her back.

She used all her strength to writhe against the men's grip, not caring that they clearly outmatched her without her firebending. She would not just _let_ them control her like this… A small, ragged man holding a bottle of liquid looked over at her and gave her a toothy grin.

"Frisky, aren't you darling?" he said, sneering at her.

Ursa tried yanking out of the men's grasp again before looking up at the smallest of the men. "What do you… you want from me…?" she muttered tiredly.

The man merely grinned down at her. "If I told you _that_, you'd only become more of a nuisance… It'll all be over soon, sweetheart… Just keep to the ground and you'll make it_ much_ less of an ordeal for yourself." He held up the bottle of liquid, it was half-full of an odd, lumpy-looking liquid… he removed the tissue he had used to seal it.

"_No_…" Ursa scowled viciously; grunting through another resolute attempt to free herself from the four men holding her down, her vision becoming clearer and clearer by the second. Ursa gritted her teeth together as the bottle was brought towards her mouth and then pursed her lips together tightly.

The man narrowed his eyes. As he tried to force Ursa to drink the substance, she just turned her head or kept her lips adamantly pursed. "We're running outta time, someone get her to open her mouth! _Hurry up!_"

The largest man in the group let her go; and just as quickly as he had, he dealt a crippling blow to her stomach. The other men let Ursa go as she jolted upright with a gasp of shock and pain. The boss wasted no time and as Ursa gripped to the bruised area around her abdomen, he grabbed her lower jawbone with his filthy, calloused hands and quickly tipped a fair amount of the liquid drug from the bottle into her mouth. A few drops were expelled as Ursa choked and coughed; her mind and body trying to rid herself of the foul, warm substance; but it was too late… She felt the room spin wildly around her as the drug began to take effect.

Who were these men…? Were they _poisoning_ her? Was this her punishment for her wicked deed against Azulon? 'Bad karma…' was all that Ursa could coherently think as she dropped to the floor and her world went black.

A bearded man suddenly entered the now-stationary carriage and, looking from Ursa's unconscious form to his group, cried out "_Agni_, you guys might've told me you were havin' all that damn fun!"

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Zuko sat on the bed in his mother's room; he just couldn't believe that she was really _gone_. He felt so alone… She had been missing for a day now; but to Zuko, it felt longer than that… he'd wandered the palace and would just be met with a mixture of eerie faces… Some filled with pity for the young prince looking for his lost mother, some holding a stone-like, listless expression... these unfarmiliar faces had forced Zuko away into his mother's quarters to… perhaps _reflect_ upon a few things.

He sighed and muttered "I miss you, mom… Where _are_ you?"

Something suddenly fell from the area where Ursa had picked up the chi-blocking scroll the previous morning and frightened Zuko into literally diving behind the opposite end of her bed. "Oof! Ow…" he cried out in pain.

Internally embarrassed by the frightened reflex; Zuko stood up and peered over her bed, just to be sure that it was safe… He frowned, stood up, and walked around the bed back towards the source of the fallen object. He picked it up and examined it. It was… some sort of ugly blue mask. Zuko wrinkled his nose, exactly what _was_ it? And what would his mom want with a beastly-looking mask like _this_?

"Zuko?"

Zuko yelled out and spun around, almost dropping the mask, and looked over at Ozai. "Y-Yes dad…?"

Ozai sighed. "How many times must I say it? You call me _father_…"

"Sorry… father." Zuko said apologetically, putting the hideous blue mask on the desk.

Ozai frowned towards the desk, but shrugged it off. "What are you doing in here?"

"… I'm not sure, da-_father_." Zuko replied hastily.

"Do not come in here again… not without my _expressed_ permission, do you understand me Zuko?" Ozai stated, his calm voice having a clear admonitory tone concealed behind it.

Zuko swallowed; he'd always been afraid of his father, for a reason inexplicable to him, and the absence of his mother only increased that fear. "Yes… father…" Zuko replied in a clear, brave tone of voice which would have otherwise been barely audible.

"Now, best clothes and _best_ behaviour…" Ozai told Zuko as he walked towards the door. "Captain Zhao's paying a visit. Your presence for his arrival is not required, but your presence for our guest's dinner here is _mandatory_." Ozai then walked away, knowing that Zuko would leave the room on his own after he'd given him a clear warning.

Zuko's face contorted when Ozai was out of sight and he couldn't help but shudder.

Not _Zhao_… His mom had never liked him; Zuko had even heard her privately call him a series of things, sometimes too coarse for a child to hear, mostly relating to his monkey-like sideburns and arrogant attitude, while with her friends and reflecting upon the many years she'd known him. It was obvious to Zuko that she'd _never_ liked him from the first moment she'd met him… and Zuko, although Ursa had done her very best to behave in a civil manner around him while her children were there, had never liked him either…

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"Zhao." Ozai greeted his old friend sometime later in an emotionless, yet friendly tone as he shook his hand. "It's been too long."

Zhao, who's sideburns truly _did_ give him the comical appearance of a monkey, nodded in agreement. "It has indeed, Sir. Just about to become _Fire Lord_, from what I have already heard… My condolence, Azulon was a _fine_ ruler… Where is your family?"

"My children are elsewhere; and my wife…" Ozai narrowed his eyes and looked to the side.

"Yes?" Zhao asked him, masking his curiosity with a concerned tone of voice.

Both of the men were so engrossed in this conversation; that they did not hear the small, whispering voices from around the corner of the waiting room…

"Azula, why do we always have to-!?"

"_Ssh!_"

"… I have not seen Ursa since the night of my father's death." Ozai replied glumly, sounding sincere.

"What a shame…" Zhao muttered, his words subtly showing how glad he really was.

Ozai glowered at his old friend. "Is there a problem, Zhao…?"

"Oh no, none at all…" Zhao replied with Ozai's same, confident and genuine-but invisibly false-sincerity. "I was just recalling those times in our youth… where we did not get along _quite_ as well…"

Talk of those, perhaps, happier times when he was younger put a smile on Ozai's face. "Oh yes… she hated you."

"Though I think, as she _matured_, she gradually began to warm up to me." Zhao said with a grin.

Zuko stifled a laugh, receiving a strange look from Azula. 'Yeah _right_…' he thought to himself.

'Little brothers…' Azula thought to herself, shaking her head and focusing back on the elder's conversation again.

Ozai raised his brow at that comment. "How is business?" he asked, steering the subject.

"Business? At it's best, par usual…" Zhao replied with a confident smile. "Worthy of a _raise_; if I don't sound too boastful, Prince Ozai…"

'_Ah_... So that's why he has requested to see me…' Ozai thought, with an added hint of abhorrence that Zhao had such a nerve to visit him on such matters the day after his father's _untimely_ death and his wife's _mysterious_ disappearance.

" Perhaps…" Ozai replied curtly. "Now… where are the children…?"

As Ozai looked around, Zhao mentally cringed at Ozai's subtle rejection of his 'proposition'. As Zuko was about to gasp, Azula covered his mouth…

"In the courtyard, perhaps…" Ozai mused. "Come, Zhao, I know my daughter will be happy to see you…"

Azula held onto Zuko until Ozai and Zhao disappeared around the opposite corner, and she thought it to be safe enough to let her whiny brother open his mouth. She let Zuko go and as he gagged like a hogmonkey, she walked out from behind the corner and looked around.

"Hmm…" after a couple of seconds, she span round and ran back towards the corner, grabbing Zuko's hand and leading him down the corridor. "Quickly, I know a shortcut this way!" Azula whispered hoarsely, rounding another corner.

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"We have to leave, _now_. Take what you can and run!" a man's deep voice cried out, sounding as though he was trying _very_ hard to keep calm.

Three people ran ahead of Ursa; the youngest of the three upstairs, the woman in the other direction, and the male of the trio grabbed Ursa's hand, leading her up the stairs after the youngest turned a corner.

"Why do we have to leave?" Ursa cried out, in a voice much younger than her own. When she didn't get a response, she tried again as they ran into the far room at the end of the stairway. "What… What's happening?"

An old man then gripped to her hand. "Trust me, Ursa."

Ursa heard the youngest leave another room and quickly ran down the stairs and out the back door.

She could trust this man… after all, he was her _father_. She nodded, and just as she picked up what looked like a scroll of great value, a great slam and a sinister, scathing voice yelled out, "KUZON!"

Ursa dropped the scroll in fright and gripped to her father's robes, terrified. "Daddy… I'm scared… who is that man?"

"Ssh… That's not important right now, Ursa… what _is_ important, is that we're not heard…" He said calmly while looking around wildly; the tone of her father's voice did _not_ suit his current appearance. He appeared… _scared_. The emotion did not suit his features at all… at least not to Ursa…

"I know you're in here…" that same voice called out. Footsteps sounded on the mahogany steps leading to the second floor of the house.

Kuzon carefully opened a chest, where a few bed-blankets had been carelessly tossed inside. Ursa felt herself being lifted into it; as Kuzon grabbed the lid, he whispered to her. "Ursa, my darling, please; for the love of Agni do _not_ come out of here until I come and get you myself. If anyone besides me, your mother or your sister looks into this chest, _burn them_. Okay?"

Swallowing, Ursa gave a nod. "Okay…" she said uncertainly. Kuzon shut the lid; though surrounded by darkness, Ursa was still able to hear her father's fast-paced breathing…

"Kuzon…" the bone-chilling tone that the name had been spoken in made her flinch. Ursa heard an unearthly scorching sound, accompanied by the smell of burning wood.

"Why have you come here…?" her father's familiar voice asked. "Leave this island immediately, _traitor_!" he spat the words at the stranger like venom.

"I am no more of a traitor than you…" the cold voice chuckled. "Fooling around with the airbender boy… It's such a pity he's dead…" the stranger said, though in a sardonic tone of voice.

Her father snarled. "Sozin was a fool… The world can not afford this elemental imbalance-"

"I think _we'll_ manage…" the cold voice droned lazily. The sound of a strong fire being ignited caught Ursa's ear. "Where's your lovely wife, Kuzon…? From what I've heard, you've been _very_ busy…"

Though Kuzon could not say what he had originally intended to say due to the fact that his six year old daughter was present in the room, he was obviously making up for it with his facial expressions.

"… Odd… Where's the obscene, witty comeback, _brother-in-law_?" the term rolled off his tongue in disgust.

"You are no brother of mine… Biologically; or otherwise… Ah, or have you forgotten of my mother's eternal loyalty to Roku?" Kuzon said aloud, with pride in his voice.

"Then apparently, Ta Min was not as_ loyal_ as you first thought…" the stranger retaliated with a chuckle.

She heard a growl that she had recognised as her father's… Not noticing the blanket underneath her slipping while she listened to the two men's conversation, Ursa fell against a wall in the chest and gave a small squeak of surprise. There was silence… She was scared that she had drawn the attention of the owner of that _awful_ voice, what if he'd open the chest?

"Let's talk _family_…" the stranger then continued, after an evident silence.

"I am in no mood to speak of such matters with the likes of _you_…" Kuzon replied bluntly.

"Oh, but I must know of the happy family life you have selfishly stolen away from me…" the other man said, a tinge of hurt could just _barely_ be heard in his voice.

"Juan chose _me_!" Kuzon stated harshly.

Ursa heard footsteps draw closer to the chest… "What of your _children_? Are they firebenders?" the stranger asked; his voice apparently louder than before…

"Yes… both of them…" Kuzon replied.

A hand touched the chest… "Have either of them inherited your white fire?" the other man then asked.

"Only time will tell." Kuzon said, uncertainty now creeping into his voice as he watched the stranger's every move towards the chest he had 'safely' hidden his daughter in.

The stranger gave another chuckle. "Time they are _fast_ running out of…"

Light blinded Ursa as the chest opened slightly.

"Xing Hai-!" her father cried out.

The lid opened fully, and Xing Hai looked down at Ursa with a smirk. "_Ah_… you never told me your house had a rat problem, Kuzon…"

Ursa did the single thing she could think of besides firebending. As the old man grabbed her arm, over her father's "_No!_", she grabbed the stranger's other hand and sunk her teeth into it.

As the man cried out in pain, Ursa screamed and fell back as her entire sleeve was burnt by a sudden burst of heat, her head hitting the chest and leaving her in darkness once again…

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Then… everything became _white_…

"Mom…?" was that… Zuko!?

"Mom, where are you!?" the same voice cried out. She could see Zuko running in the distance, calling her name. "Mom!?"

Ursa looked down; she was still in her six-year-old body… Zuko ran up to her, looking down at her.

"Hey, have you seen mom?" he asked her.

"I am your mother, Zuko…" she answered, but… no sound came out!

"_Please_, I need to know!" tears filled the young prince's eyes. "I miss her… _Please_! Why won't you answer me?!"

Close to tears herself for some reason, she tried gestures. "Zuko, it's _me_!" she pointed to herself.

Zuko's expression contorted into an angry glare. "That's not funny anymore, Azula! You _know_ what happened to her!" Zuko grabbed, what he thought was, Azula by her shoulders and shook her violently. "Why are you like this!? What is _wrong_ with you!?"

Ursa felt hot tears sting Azula's eyes. "Zuzu, _stop it_!"

Zuko was then struck at the side of the head by… a black _beast_ of some kind… Her baby hit what must've been a _wall_ among the white surroundings and limply hit the 'floor' in a ragdoll fashion. He suddenly turned white, almost lost among the surroundings spare a faint outline…

Just like that, _that_ quickly, he was _dead_…

The Ursa in Azula's body stared at Zuko's outline in shock, mouth open, and collapsed to her knees before giving in to a sobbing fit.

"_Why?_" she cried out in agony as the blackened form encircled her, settled beside her and shaped itself into the form of a kneeling Ozai.

"I was only trying to protect you…" the monster stated, using Ozai's voice.

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The carriage shook, abruptly bringing Ursa back into the real world. She woke up with a muffled gasp, feeling much like she did the last time she remembered waking up. She could feel the carriage moving, but her vision was still blurred… maybe if she closed her eyes and laid there long enough to regain her vision, she could make her escape? Perhaps the doors were locked, though…? And worst of all, as she lay there in the dimly-lit carriage she regained some sense and registered that her hands and feet had been bound by rope… Perhaps her captors had a key, or a knife? Either would be a comfort to see… or at least the _key_, on second thought…

How long had it been since they'd forced her to drink that foul drug…? It felt like an eternity… As she attempted to sit up, the carriage then shook again… and that's when she realised that they weren't moving… The muffled voices she could hear sounded frantic with worry… What was going on?

The carriage shook again, it then started moving and to everyone's horror, swerved and landed on one of it's sides.

Ursa felt the numb, tingling impact as her body hit what was now the 'floor'. Too dazed to move, Ursa listened as the men then made a 'door' through what-was-the ceiling by kicking and hacking at the strong wood with various weapons.

One of the men stepped outside and looked around, then gestured to his group that it was safe to follow. They all followed, except for the boss who knelt down and grabbed Ursa by her front.

"Those ostrich-horses… they belonged to you, am I correct?" the voice of an old woman called out to the group of men, the boss raised his brow.

Ursa was regaining her senses surprisingly fast… She could already almost see! She must have been awake for some time now…

"Yeah, what's it to you?" one of the men asked, approaching the elderly woman who stood around 15 feet away from them. He suddenly froze involuntarily as the woman raised her arms up, then hit a tree _hard_ as she swerved her arms to the side, knocking him out.

The remaining three men stared at the old woman with awe.

"Those animals were _abused_." She then moved her arms in a certain fashion so that the unconscious man stood upright, held like a puppet on strings… "_Starved…_" she then moved her arms again, so that his limbs twisted in an excruciating fashion, the extent they were twisted to apparent as he suddenly woke up and yelled out in agony.

"Chained, whipped, and treated like _vermin_ to suit your own needs!" She cried out, allowing the man to drop onto the floor, convulsing in pain.

"Now… let's see how _you_ like it!" the old woman snarled, grinning inanely and raising her arms again.

"Y-You crazy bitch, what the _hell_ did you do to-?" the bearded man cried out, unable to finish his question as the old crone forced him to start attacking his two group-mates with a large hammer.

The first thing Ursa saw when she'd fully regained her senses was a man… the man that had made her drink that awful drug, holding a knife right up close to her face… Ursa shut her eyes with a sharp inhale as he sliced through the ropes binding her ankles together. Before she opened her eyes again, she was forced to drink the foul liquid drug yet again, but didn't have time to try and expel it as she was dragged to her feet by the scruff of her neck.

As the old witch continued to use her mysterious 'magic' to turn the three conscious men of the group against each other, her attention suddenly turned towards a short, stocky man… holding a young woman up to his height by the back of her long, black hair while holding a knife up against her throat.

"Lady! Try _anything else_ on us, and we'll kill her…" he then gestured his head to Ursa, who seemed to be on her way into another deep slumber, though fighting to stay awake. "I _swear to Agni_, we ain't lying!"

The two men the old woman had under her control, both strangling the third man, then fell to the floor along with the third man as all her attention focused on Ursa and the boss. As the old woman took a few steps closer, there was a slashing sound and a loud scream… A copious shower of blood splattered the side of Ursa's face as the man holding her fell to the ground, writhing in agony. With a gasp she, in turn, collapsed onto her knees… stunned, disoriented and weak; but unharmed.

The boss, now missing a knife _and_ a hand, ran off in fright… but not before being slammed into a tree by the old woman's strange powers and falling down, unconscious, to the floor.

Ursa couldn't keep her eyes open by now... she fell on her side and onto the ground, still fighting to stay awake... Moments later, the old woman lifted her into a sitting position and used the knife to cut the ropes that bound her wrists together.

"You're safe now…" the witch said in a gentle tone as she helped Ursa to stand and led her behind a bush. "Stay here…" she then fled out from the bushes, surprisingly agile for her old age.

Too tired to even think about where the old woman would take her or, indeed, what she was _doing_ to those men; or how the steely smell and taste of the man's blood made her stomach convulse, Ursa surrendered to her fatigue. Her entire body fell down to the ground and with a small, whispered "Thank you…", Ursa finally allowed herself to succumb to the powerful drug and hoped it would be the _very_ last time that she would ever have to taste it, and be seperated from her firebending, again…

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"Azulon… Fire Lord to our nation for 23 years… You were our fearless leader in the battle of Gar Sai… Our matchless conqueror of the Hu Sin provinces… You were father of Iroh… Father of Ozai… Husband of Ila, now passed… Grandfather of Lu Ten, now passed… Grandfather of Zuko and Azula." The Fire Sage preached out to the audience of Azulon's funeral, while standing in front of the deceased Fire Lord's golden sarcophagus.

Ozai, Zuko and Azula, all dressed in white as it was accustomed for a traditional royal's funeral, bowed their heads in reverence.

The old Fire Sage turned and approached the sarcophagus, Ozai walked forwards, and as the Sage took the old Fire Lord's diadem from the sarcophagus, announced, "We lay you to rest."

As he held the diadem above his head, and two firebenders lit fire to the sarcophagus from the left and right sides, the old Sage announced, "As was your dying wish, you are now succeeded by your… _second_ son." and crowned the new Fire Lord by placing the diadem into his topknot. "Hail, Fire Lord Ozai!"

Ozai then stood up, with little remorse, as his father burned to ashes behind him. His audience, including his children and the Fire Sage, bowed low…

Ozai looked out at the audience with a solemn expression, which masked how smug with victory he _truly_ was. He was the Fire Lord… the crown was finally _his_… He hadn't even had to _do_ anything… He couldn't describe just how pleased he felt at this moment. And there were, surely, many more pleasing moments to come. He was now the most powerful man in the Fire Nation… the most powerful man in the _world_!

Zuko looked over at his sister; wearing a sadistic, almost triumphant smirk on her face… looking fearful, he then looked ahead again… the fact that things would _never_ be the same again now truly sinking in…

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**_El gasp!_ That was pretty quick, huh?**

**Thanks for reading!**

**PS. Is it about time I upped the rating? Yes? No?**

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**_Original Dialogue & Scripting For Episode 7 of Season 2, "Zuko Alone", is copyright to Avatar: The Last Airbender. Written by _****Elizabeth Welch Ehasz**** and directed by ****Lauren Macmullan****.**

**__****Xing Hai & The Five Men in The Carriage are **© **__****to Me.  
**

**_I don't own Avatar, yada-yada-yada._**

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	7. A Friend?

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Crickethoppers chirping, accompanied by the morning sun's warm and welcoming heat, were the first things that Ursa could hear and feel as she woke up and sat up, greeted by unfamiliar yet hospitable surroundings of what seemed like… a spare bedroom of sorts. The bedroom had that… old lady smell about it; a musky-type odour that Ursa was not familiar with, but it didn't bother her _too_ much… All the items in the room were simple, and everything had been left clean and untouched spare the bed she had slept in and… towels and a pot of water that had been left by the side of her bed… She then spied some lightly-bloodstained bandages a short distance away from the used towels, which brought back memories of her head injury…

She felt the area, which was now free of bandages, and to her happy surprise…

"It's… _gone_…" she muttered euphorically.

She then heard the door creak open, and from the moment she saw the old woman through the door frame, _all_ the memories started to pour back in…

"Ah, you're awake!" the witch said in a friendly tone; taking Ursa's wide-eyed, shocked expression as though it were a natural thing to be greeted by when you walked into a room. "You've been out for quite some time, dear… almost a week, I'd say. I was half-afraid that you'd gone into a coma! I managed to rid you of that awful head wound… well, for the most part… it still has to heal on its own, but it's hardly visible anymore."

"I noticed…" Though Ursa was still in doubt that she could trust this woman after what she'd heard of what happened the last time she'd been awake, she tried to keep the peace that was already apparent between them and smiled at her. "I can't thank you enough. I, _really_, I…"

"Think nothing of it, dear… A fellow townsman and I found you out in the forest alone and brought you back to my inn; and it's a good thing we found you in one piece, strange things are said to happen in those forests during the full moon…" the old woman mused.

Ursa frowned. Was she… hearing this information correctly? She could quite clearly remember what transpired last night… though, she could not be too quick to accuse… her eyes had been closed almost the whole time she was in that chaotic scene… Ursa linked a gaze with the elderly woman's tired, grey eyes… Perhaps she had hallucinated it all? Her family connection to Avatar Roku may have made her slightly spiritual, for all she knew; and aided by her shaman training when she was young, she could be able to predict an obscure version of the future through dreams…? Or, perhaps, the effects of that drug were still playing on her mind to make her think of such absurd thoughts as _predicting the future_… wait, that drug! Ursa _knew_ she had not imagined that disgusting liquid that had taken her bending away from her… Something about the old lady just didn't seem right to Ursa… just what kind of wicked power was this woman hiding from her?

The old woman in turn looked, for the first time, into the younger woman's bright… _gold_ eyes…? Now this didn't make sense… At first, she thought the girl to be water tribe because of her dark hair colour, but knew that she couldn't jump to conclusions… yet; she'd never seen a water tribe citizen with golden eyes before… Maybe she was from the earth kingdom? She was _sure_ that she wasn't from the Fire Nation; she just didn't have the malice about her…Where had she seen eyes like that before, though…? In her old age, all her memories were fading… she really could not figure it out… she felt like she was missing something that was _literally_ right in front of her face…

She decided to break the silence before she alienated her… rather strange guest. "My name is Hama… What is yours?"

"My name?" Ursa asked. Hama nodded. "… My name is… Meilin." Ursa replied, her lack of trust for the old woman meant that she was willing to live under a false identity during the time she spent with her, which Ursa _had_ to hope was not a long time…

Hama hinted a frown. Ah… now her name appeared to be an Earth Kingdom name… well, fair enough. "… Well, Meilin, you're welcome to stay as long as you like here… I found something about your size in the market, if you're willing to try it on…? Those clothes you're wearing are rather dirty."

Ursa looked down. The cloak had been removed, as had the outer layers of her clothing; so only her silk dress, whole with the stench of damp conditions and littered with dirt, remained.

"I had to remove some of your clothing to heal the bruises. I hope you don't mind…" Hama was quick to add.

Ursa gave a listless shrug and turned her attention to the new dress. It had that stench of… she guessed it, _musk_…

Ursa shook her head. "I won't need them back." She said, her own clothing may just draw attention, plus she knew that even if her imagined events of last night were true, the clothing would just be scrubbed spotless by the woman's waterbendi-

"Wait a minute… a healer? You're a waterbender?" Ursa asked the woman.

"Ah, so you know of our abilities to heal?" Hama inquired, raising her brow.

"My father's friend was a waterbender… he wasn't a healer, but he knew of some women who were apparently great healers." Ursa replied.

At last! Among the dreary, deplorable area that was the Fire Nation, Hama may have just found a friend…

"I'm afraid my healing abilities are limited… I learnt them from a student I took in many years ago… in exchange for some of my own waterbending techniques." Hama said, she sighed and looked down, but soon looked back up… it was as though she was trying to hide something else now, too…

"I'm sure you're hungry…" the old woman stated in a motherly tone. "Can you walk?"

"I… hope so…" Ursa replied, frowning. She tried getting out of bed. Though her movements were stiff due to the lack of it, she managed to stand on two feet and nodded. "Thank you for the clothes… can I try them on and meet you in an hour or so?" she asked, sure that she could find her own way around… wherever she was rather easily over time. "Do you have anywhere in here where I could… wash up?"

Hama nodded. "The bathroom is two doors to your right… The kitchen is downstairs, I'll see you there…" the elder woman gathered up the towels and bandages on the floor, as well as the pot of water, and walked through the open door. Leaving Ursa alone in the room…

She frowned. That woman was so creepy, somehow… She seemed like a normal, nice old lady just trying to help Ursa through an ordeal, but… because of the events of last night compared with this morning's little show of charity, Ursa was a little spooked.

Trying not to think too much of it, Ursa took the new dress with her as she walked out of the room.

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Ursa walked into the kitchen an hour later. The new dress was slightly itchy and she still wasn't used to its bothersome odour, but what could she do?

As she walked over to the table, Hama turned to her. "Ah, perfect fit I see?"

Ursa nodded, holding back any sort of expression that would give away how she really felt about the condition of the clothing she was wearing. She smiled. "Thank you… I like it." She thanked the old woman, trying to at least be grateful after her internal catty rant about the dress. Hama had spared a thought to buy something new for her and she wouldn't have to pay as much for travelling clothes now… It would be unfair to be sour about the clothing, and she probably just wasn't used to it yet…

She sat down as Hama approached with a bowl of food for her. Ursa was so absolutely _starving_, she knew that she could eat _anything_.

Hama put the bowl down in front of her.

… Except that.

"Oh, um… what is this?" Ursa asked, holding back her disgust at the vile-looking food while pointing to it.

"Oat porridge… enjoy." Hama said from the other end of the kitchen.

Porridge? It looked like _paste_… Was she trying to _poison _her somehow…? Ursa looked over to Hama, who was busy watering a plant. Knowing it was safe; she crept up from the table with the 'poison' in hand and tipped it into what she assumed was the place where the trash went. She'd just have to go hungry…

Hama turned to her a few seconds after Ursa sat down. "I need to collect some items from the market, Meilin… Will you be alright on your own?"

_No…_ "I'll help you…" Ursa replied. She needed _any_ excuse that came to light to get outside, and keep an eye on the woman lest her own life was in danger.

"Are you sure, dear…? You've only just recovered." Hama asked her sympathetically.

"I feel fine… and it's the _least_ I could do for you, Hama…" Ursa replied, smiling to reassure her, though putting on a false smile did little to reassure _herself_…

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Ursa walked around the market with a small basket containing a pouch of money, a shopping list and items she'd already bought based on said shopping list. Hama had left her alone while she'd gone off to "run a few errands", leaving Ursa to do the rest of the shopping for her as she'd insisted on doing so, just to get away from her…

She stopped at a stall and looked at the prices, as Hama had told her to keep a sharp eye out for the bargains and use the money wisely, or it would soon all be gone before she completed the list. She was rather surprised that nobody was suspicious of her looking around at every stall… surely, as poor as some of these people seemed, they wouldn't want their produce stolen from them…?

"Six komodo sausages please…?" Ursa asked the bald merchant in front of her, who seemed to be off in his own little world

The merchant looked up as if he were being forced awake and stared at Ursa. "…Haven't seen you around here before…" the old man mused out loud, scratching his chin. "What's your name?"

"My name is Ur-_Meilin_…" Ursa interrupted herself abruptly, not wanting to give her true identity away to _anyone _in this strange little town. "Hama told me she found me in the forest unconscious a week ago and took me in…I'm just running a shopping errand for her." Ursa told him.

"The innkeeper?" the old man asked; and as Ursa nodded he, in turn, smiled. "Ah, that changes everything… Take the sausages for free." He said.

"… You're sure?" Ursa asked, eyes wide with surprise. "But your business-"

"Is _fine_…" The man said with a smile, picking up some wrapping paper and bustling over to the sausages. "I can spare an item or two for an old friend. If nothing else, tell her 'Mr. Yao' thinks she deserves some sort of award for helping you out there…" as he finished wrapping the meat, he then added to what he said; in a solemn tone of voice accompanied by an equally solemn expression, "Strange things are said to happen in the forest at night, you know…"

Ursa frowned. "What kind of things…?"

Mr. Yao's expression suddenly warped into his trademark smile. "Eh, I've said enough…" he placed the sausages into her basket. "I don't want to scare you out of town, now… Just keep out of the forest before nightfall and until moonset and you'll be fine. Now run along, I'm sure Hama wants you back as soon as possible."

"Well… okay. Thank you, Mr. Yao." Ursa thanked the old man, bowing forward slightly in gratitude.

"Think nothing of it. It's been a pleasure meeting you, Meilin!" the man smiled and waved.

"You too, sir. Goodbye!" Ursa waved back and walked off, taking the list out of the basket and feeling a sudden wave of fatigue wash over her.

Thankfully, there were only two more items on the list… Leechi nuts and… ocean kumquats…That reminded Ursa of the traditional Water Tribe meal Hama had promised her, saying it would aid to the mood as she was going to ask Ursa to say what she knew about the Water Tribe. The dinner apparently needed ocean kumquats, which Hama had told her would be stewed to the point where they tasted like their traditional sea prunes… Which, she already knew from experience, were gross anyway… However, she decided she would at least try it… It had been so long since she had eaten a real Water Tribe meal, when Ursa and her birth family had been in hiding; so one cooked by a Water Tribe woman would certainly bring back those familiar memories, and the same… _unique_ taste…

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A while later; after collecting the last of the items, returning to the inn and taking a short nap, Ursa was now watching Hama prepare their meal.

Ursa had asked Hama if she didn't mind watching her cook, telling her that she was interested to see how a traditional Water Tribe dinner was prepared; even if you'd rarely come across a _real_ kitchen to prepare it in while in the Southern Water Tribe…

Of course, the truth was that Ursa would have to survive on her own now and if worst came to worst; she'd have to hunt and cook in the wild… It was a survival skill that the ex-princess had taken no true interest in learning throughout her life. She had servants back in the palace who cooked the meals for her. Even while her father was forced to join the war and her elder sister had joined him out of concern for his old age, her mother had been murdered a short time prior to that event and Kuzon had hired two nannies, Lo & Li, to spoil her.

When she was first taken in by Azulon prior to her father and sister's deaths in the war, she had asked if she would have to cook for herself and was met with a rather strange look and a lecture on why "members of the royal family don't _do_ the cooking and why it now applies to _you_, Prince Ozai's betrothed, as well".

"Could you set the table please, Meilin?" Hama asked Ursa, interrupting her thoughts as she was watching the old woman prepare the last of the meal.

"Oh… Of course, Hama…" Ursa replied, initially a little dazed after her musing had been cut short. She picked up the two bowls, some plates and spoons and set them down in the two seats closest to the chair at the end of the table.

As Hama motioned for her to sit down, the old woman walked over with a large wooden bowl. "I hope you'll enjoy this. I just _love_ my native nation's dishes!"

Since Ursa had been daydreaming half the time while Hama was cooking, she hadn't thought to take a proper look at the finished food the old woman had cooked. She looked into the bowl…

Okay… it was soup… that wasn't so bad…

Hama then came to the end of the table with a few other bowls… One was filled with an odd-looking meat, one was a long plate lined with what looked like three cooked _purple pentapi_ and…

Sweet Avatar, _what was that_?

"Hama… are those the ocean kumquats by any chance?" Ursa asked, pointing to 'That' and trying not to openly express her disdain at what looked to her like snot-coloured, mutated lettuce.

"Indeed it is, Meilin." Hama said cheerfully, putting the last of the bowls and plates on the table and sitting down.

Ursa's stomach gave a groan of protest at the sight of all the food. She hadn't eaten for days now, and though she was eyeing all the food with revulsion her digestive system was, naturally, ready to disagree with her until it had been fed.

Though Ursa flushed red, Hama just laughed. "I think your stomach's trying to tell you something. Why don't you try one?"

It gave a groan of agreement to Hama's words.

_'Shut up!'_ Ursa had to snap at it through her mind, as though it would help the situation.

She nodded. "But first… What is that soup over there?" Ursa asked, pointing to the wooden bowl.

"Ah, this…?" Hama asked, drawing the bowl closer and looking into it. "Five-flavour soup…" she drew some of the liquid up with her waterbending, "A personal favourite of mine…" and flicked it into her and Ursa's bowls. "Please, try some."

Ursa first looked in amazement at her bending skills, how she had just bent the liquid into their bowls with an easy flick of her fingers, then back into the bowl at that strange-looking soup, feeling unsure… She remembered five-flavour soup now that Hama renamed it, but couldn't quite remember the taste…

The idea of watching Hama cook a traditional Water Tribe meal sounded unnecessary now… she'd have to be _dying_ before she ever ate half the food on these plates again…

'_Come on Ursa, it won't _kill_ you… Will it?' _she thought to herself, her suspicions of Hama flooding back in. She had to brush them off as paranoia, though… She was being rather snide for no reason _at all_ besides what she _thought_ she heard while on a drug… this lady had taken her in, healed her wounds at the risk of her own secret bending gift being exposed to the Fire Nation and she had now cooked this dinner based on traditional dishes from her own nation and was willing to share it with Ursa and trade pasts with her… Though Ursa had every right to keep her own identity a secret just for vigilance, she had no right to think like she was thinking now… she was just being paranoid and spiteful.

She picked her spoon up and gave the soup a taste. With a swallow, she considered the taste. "This is… _really_ good." she said, eyes wide with surprise.

She wasn't just saying that to appease Hama, either… Ursa didn't know if it was just due to the fact that she'd been sleeping on nothing for around a week and it felt satisfying just to eat or drink _something_ with flavour… five flavours even, as the bad pun just _had_ to come to mind… but the soup truly tasted good to her.

Hama beamed, naturally enthralled at her guest's love for one of her dishes.

"Try something else, dear… We simply _must_ discuss how you came to know of the Southern Water Tribe so well."

The 'purple pentapus' that Ursa had picked up to taste slipped out of her grip and into the air as Hama spoke. Quickly catching it, eyes wide, Ursa looked at Hama. "Sorry…" she apologised; for some reason, she felt like she had to…

"Whatever for?" Hama asked with a chuckle. "That happened to me the first time I tried to eat smoked pentapus."

'… _You just had to get curious enough to pick it up, didn't you…?'_ Ursa mentally slapped herself, not actually thinking that the odd-looking, squishy little object was _really _a pentapus.

Ursa looked at it. Oh, the poor thing… "It won't… _bite_, will it?" Ursa asked, she couldn't help but think that anything was possible with a meal like this one…

"Only a little…" Hama joked with a small smile. As Ursa gingerly placed the cooked pentapus down onto a spare plate, Hama spoke up again. "So…who was your father's friend? I want to hear _all_ about your stay at the Southern Water Tribe…"

"To tell you the truth, Hama…" Ursa was choosing her words carefully. She felt guilty that she would have to lie to this lovely woman; but it was important that her identity was kept a strict secret, so she really didn't have a choice in the matter. "I was very young at the time… We were just there while my father was running an errand for his friends there… I don't remember a lot… And my mother and father both died by the time when I was 9, so I never really remembered to ask for any of the names… I'm sorry…"

Hama, who looked genuinely shocked at what Ursa had just told her, stood from the table and went over to hug her. "No… _I'm_ sorry… It's rude to ask, but… what happened to them?"

Ursa sighed. The only thing she hadn't lied about there… was her parents. "My mother was murdered by another man, and… the Fire Nation took my father and my sister away from me…"

"… I am _so _sorry, Meilin…" Hama muttered, suddenly a pained expression appeared on her face. "The Fire Nation took my family away from me, too…"

Ursa looked at her, eyes wide. "… Oh, Hama, I… I'm sorry… What happened? Can you talk about it?"

The old woman sighed, swallowed her feelings and nodded. "Yes… I'd be glad to… You, of all people, should know of the pain this _despicable_ nation has brought upon the world…"

Her last words were spoken in an acidic tone… Ursa noted that it was, perhaps, for the best that Hama did not know that she was a firebender…

The old woman then began to tell Ursa of her tragic life tale; of how she was stolen away from her home by The Southern Raiders and left to rot in prison, the supply of water kept low to bring their capability of bending, and most importantly escape, to a nil.

As she listened, Ursa couldn't help but feel great sympathy and... great _guilt_ for the poor woman's ordeal… Ursa's own nation had imprisoned this woman, and her brothers and sisters whom Ursa could only assume were dead, simply because she was a _waterbender_. Had Azulon allowed all this to happen…? It wouldn't surprise her, but… it was just so _awful_…

Ursa's father had told her and her sister of the Fire Nation's _true _history during their time of hiding at the Southern Water Tribe. Of how during his early childhood, he lost his monk friend to an airbender genocide that _Sozin_ had unleashed. Why had he done it? Her father told them that their grandma had told _him_, from what she could guess, that Sozin had done this out of spite for grandpa Roku…

Ursa's grandfather was the last known Avatar before the missing airbender Avatar. Born into the Fire Nation, upon Roku's death the Avatar would be reincarnated into the Air Nation following a strict Avatar rebirth pattern. Sozin didn't want that to happen, and so his plan of action was to wipe out the air nomads using a comet's strength to empower him and his minions, a comet now known as Sozin's Comet. And from what she could tell… Azulon had planned on doing the same to the waterbenders out of paranoia, as the current Avatar was never found.

What next? Would her crazy husband try and burn down the _entire_ Earth Kingdom? … Ursa decided that she didn't even want to think about it…

"I was the _only _one who managed to escape… I have not seen my home ever since…" Hama finished, bowing her head.

"… How did you escape, Hama?" Ursa asked, eyes wide.

Hama looked at the concerned woman sitting beside her. Should she trust her…? No, the truth might frighten her… she was too fragile, from what Hama could make of her. "I can't continue, Meilin…" she looked away. "I'm sorry dear, it's too painful…"

"I understand…" Ursa said to her in a hushed voice. "I'm sorry all this has happened to you, Hama… I feel so bad…"

And truly, she did… Ursa felt so sick… Her own nation, a nation she once ruled over as a _princess_, put this old woman, who was now giving her food and hospitality, through all this... this _hell_ in the past… Ursa had known fully well of the terrible things her nation had done in the past… were doing in the _present_… but hearing it through a victim's voice just made the guilt all the more harder to bare…

"Meilin, dear…" Hama said, bringing Ursa back to reality. "Don't cry…" she then said.

With a frown, Ursa then realised that tears were involuntarily rolling down her own cheeks.

"I'm sorry, Hama…" she said, brushing them away with her hand. "Someday… Something will happen. The Fire Nation will realise its mistake… Things won't… be as bad anymore…" Ursa had to conclude, not sure of what to say.

"Oh, dear…" Hama muttered, close to tears herself. She hugged Ursa tightly. "The only way the Fire Nation is going to be sorry…" That acidic tone then came back… "Is if it all burns in its own fire…"

Ursa felt a chill run down her spine. Hama's words had discomforted her…

She didn't agree… how _could _she? Ursa almost felt like she was getting away with murder-oh wait…

She just wished Hama would change the subject already…

Thankfully, she did just that…

"But let's stop now… We're both getting ourselves into _such _a mess…" Hama said in a more upbeat voice, trying to lighten the mood. "Would you like some tea, Meilin?" she offered, standing up to her full height.

Ursa smiled, instantly reminded of Iroh. "I'd love some… please."

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Three weeks passed since Hama had found Ursa…

By now, Ursa felt completely reassured around Hama… She knew she would have to leave her at some point, as banishment instructed, but not before she properly thanked the old woman for what she had done for her and given her… Ursa decided she would start tomorrow and the day afterwards, she'd be ready to make the announcement and leave. But where to next, she wondered…? She'd have to leave the Fire Nation as soon as possible, lest somebody recognised her and turned her in, the authorities found her or… worse…

As she lay in bed, kept awake by considering her options, she then decided that she couldn't sleep at this moment... so she sat up and lifted the mattress slightly. From underneath it, she took out a rather decorative-looking scroll she had bought cheap from the market on a day Hama had given her some spending money for running a few errands. With great care, she turned it the right way and unravelled it.

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Hama had woken up in the middle of the night and was now walking down the hallway in a gown, heading for the bathroom. As she did, she noticed she was approaching Meilin's room…

Hama was careful to pass the room slowly to muffle the creak brought by her individual steps so she didn't disturb her sleeping guest.

She then frowned when she heard the sound of an opening drawer… was she awake, or… was someone sneaking in…?

Hama turned to open the already-ajar door a fraction to see which of her thoughts were correct but paused as, through the corner of her eye, she saw the girl… _firebend_.

As plain as she could see, her guest had _breathed_ the candle alight with fire and had now set her middle and index fingertips slightly alight to read the parchment she had settled in front of her thighs.

The old woman's eyes widened and she quickly and silently crept towards the bathroom, leaning against the wall and holding onto her head with shock written all over her expression.

Yes… it all made sense now! The gold eyes, her pale complexion, the preference for spicy food Hama had picked up on over the weeks…

Hama had saved, trusted and nurtured a _firebender_.

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The very next morning, Hama was at the stove stirring breakfast for the phony upstairs…

How could Meilin have kept _that _a secret from her…? Not only did Hama feel betrayed, but… something was fishy…

As if on cue, Ursa rushed down the stairs and into the kitchen. "Good morning!" she greeted Hama, sitting down at the table in a rush.

Hama placed a bowl of porridge in front of her.

"Oh, my favourite!" Ursa said enthusiastically, already trying to make Hama feel like it was the best day ever.

"… I'm afraid you'll have to fend for yourself for the rest of the day, Meilin… I'm out until late." Hama announced, still feeling rather bitter but trying to regain herself. She'd deal with how she felt when her guest left and decide her fate later…

"Oh… that's fine. You have a few errands to run?" Ursa asked curiously. "Don't be out too late, though… It's a full moon tonight, I've heard…" she added.

Finding the opportunity, after Hama turned around with her back to Ursa, she dumped the porridge in the same plant she had five times previously since her first day awake at Hama's Inn. She couldn't cover the gunk in soil whenever it suited her forever… One day, Hama would find out, perhaps before she got a chance to bury the evidence today… So while Hama was out, Ursa would have to change the plant's soil…

"So it is…" Hama muttered as Ursa turned back round and sat down quietly with the bowl in hand. "Don't you worry about me, Meilin, I'm a master waterbender…"

"Alright… but be careful, I don't want you to get hurt… or worse…" Ursa warned her yet again. Over time, Hama had become something of a… _grandmother_ to Ursa. She would miss her when she left…

'_Really now?' _Hama had to think to herself, but nodded in confirmation while turning around. "… My, you seem oddly perky today… Whatever has happened?" What was that evil little firebeetle planning…?

"Oh… nothing, really… I just read something interesting… Also Hama, I'm going out too, is there anything you need from the market?" Ursa asked her while standing up.

"… No dear, thank you…" Hama replied, but then an idea hit her which made her reconsider. "Though, actually! Could you spare me some time? Later after my errands, I need a few… _panda lilies_ from the fields… They're not like the fire lilies, please note; they're black and white… I've been meaning to ask an old _friend _something…" Hama smirked to herself. That should keep her busy… perhaps she'd be dense enough to spend the entire night searching for them, that way Hama could confront her during her forest excursion later that night… "Could you do the honours for me?"

Ah… was she finally going to pop the big question on Mr Yao? Ursa smiled at the thought, old love could be so sweet… But something interrupted her thoughts… "Wait… Aren't they rare? And Earth Kingdom flora only?" Ursa asked her, frowning.

Hmm… so she wasn't as dense as she appeared… "They grow in the fields… They're uncommon, but they can be found if you look hard enough. I'm not sure why… I think it might be due to the hilly conditions…" Hama replied, shrugging. "If you go straight after you bring the dailies back here from the market, you should find enough _long_ before sunset."

Wow… Ursa had never been to the fields… it would be a fun excursion and a great way to say thank you to Hama for all she'd done for her…

Ursa nodded and smiled. "I'd be happy to, Hama."

Hama smiled. "There's a good girl."

"I'll see you later today, hopefully!" Ursa called over to her, walking out of the kitchen and down the hallway.

Hama nodded. _'Yes… I'll wipe that silly smile off your face…'_

The front door closed. Hama turned and looked into the plant Ursa had discarded her breakfast in.

"... She _still _thinks she can fool me with that porridge..." Hama muttered, smirking. She made sure that her guest didn't eat anything; she didn't want a firebender at full strength in her inn... or a firebender _at all_, in fact...

The old witch then steered out of the kitchen; waiting a while, to be sure that her guest was really gone, before walking up the stairs and into Ursa's room.

"Where is that dratted scroll…?" Hama muttered; she looked around at the room, it had been left spotless, as though nobody lived there, by her 'esteemed' guest.

"Hmm… odd…" Hama muttered again. She felt the covers, looked under the pillow, and then lifted the mattress. Something rolled out of nowhere and caught Hama's eye…

_'Ah, the scroll!'_

Hama took it and unravelled it, desperately wanting to know what that dirty firebender was so cheery about after reading that scroll…

Hama frowned. It was a picture of the Royal family… But what would-? Wait… that woman… She looked _just_ like Meilin…

"Princess Ursa…" Hama muttered, reading the inscriptions below her portrait.

Her suspicion _had_ to be correct; why else would a portrait of the Royal Family make her feel so happy?

She had been _lying_… About her identity, about her bending, even about her own _name_… But why?

She may not have wanted to trust the old woman with her identity… Hama knew that she was initially suspicious at first. But what would a monarch be doing out of her palace?

Ah… Hama's brow wrinkled in anger. Obviously, this was an assassination attempt… Somehow, the wretched woman must know about Hama's identity as a waterbender and, like the rest of them, would just _love _to personally wipe a waterbender out. They would stop at nothing… even self-injury. The events of that night, everything she was, had said, had done for Hama... were all just a show…

Hama carefully wound the scroll back up and put it in the exact place that she found it. Making sure she left no trace that she was ever in her room; Hama busied herself with placing the scroll in the location she remembered it had been in, made Ursa's bed again and walked out into the hallway and left the door ajar.

Gathering new prisoners could wait… Before she took a trip into the forest, she had vermin to get rid of…

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**Aww man, I feel like I rushed this...**

**But at least it's done! And way past my bedtime, heh...**

**Whatever errors are in the story, please point them out and I'll fix them all tomorrow. I've been really tired this past week and even though I've proof-read already, it probably isn't enough since I'm catching out on the spelling errors already...**

**Please review! I don't wanna sound attention-grabbing, it's just that reviews keep me going. So if you have the time, please consider it. Thanks!**

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_**Avatar is not mine.**_

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	8. The Scroll

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The sun set behind the buildings and darkness began to creep in from the other side of the horizon. Ursa, who had been looking around the fields for any sign of a panda lily for hours, was now walking back to the village to return to Hama's Inn. She'd stay and look a little longer… but not only was the moon at it's full tonight, but she was entirely sure that there were no panda lilies in those fields what-so-ever. Hama had been mistaken… She'd collected the best substitute, however, and hoped that it would be enough… A bouquet of the last of the fire lilies left over from the summer.

Darkness had already fallen by the time she reached the village, the cool autumn breeze swept through the emptying streets; bringing with it the fall's leaves, a haunted tune and the echo of a wolf's howling. Being out in this town during darkness unsettled Ursa; she didn't know how Hama could stand it… She sped up her pace as people began to disappear, rounding a few corners and becoming slightly paranoid. Soon, it got to a point where Ursa was so focused on what was going on _around_ her, she ended up in a collision with an old townsman in front of her.

Both screamed at the tops of their lungs as they landed on the floor. As his hammer and bucket flew in the air and nails spilled out towards them both, Ursa quickly jumped up and into the old man, pushing them both out of harm's way as the nails landed on the floor, some sharp enough to stick in the ground. The hammer landed on the old man's foot and he gave a yell of pain.

Naturally, he didn't take any of this well… "_Gee whiz_, what are you doin'!? The moon's rising. Go to bed!" he shouted, his body language appearing no less peeved than his expression or his voice tone.

"I-I'm so sorry!" Ursa scrambled up, helping the old man to his feet once she was standing on hers. "Here, let me help you wi-!" She then looked over to the nails, frowned and looked back at the old man. "But… people never get taken away in the village… _do_ they?" she then asked, suddenly appearing a little fearful as she considered the awful possibility that… whatever that thing was in the folklore tale that was terrorising these villagers into their homes during the full moon may be wandering the very pathway she was standing in now…

The old man poked her with his hammer as she shuddered and cringed at the thought. "You really don't know _nothin'_, do you? Pick those nails up an' I'll tell you what happen' a' me once durin' the full moon."

Ursa first picked up the bouquet, sighing at the fact that one or two of the flowers had lost a petal or more during that collision due to their fragility in autumn.

"Yes, err… Sorry Mr…?" Ursa apologised, prompting a name from the old, paranoid townie.

"They call me 'Old Man Ding'… which _really_ bugs me, y'hear? Do I look old to you?" he asked Ursa.

Ursa turned and looked at him… well, she couldn't be impolite… She was already on the old man's bad side as it was for abruptly bumping into him like that…

"Of course you don't, Mr Ding." Ursa said with a convincing smile as she picked up the nails. "I can't believe the people in this town could be so rude!"

Old Man Ding nodded. "Me either! So, anyway, about this tale concernin' me and the moon monster…"

Ursa was just gathering the last of the nails, which thankfully did not prove too difficult with the moon, at its peak, providing this much light. She froze as she kneeled down to where the last of the nails were located. "Monster…?"

"… You're new here, ain't ya?" the old man asked Ursa, frowning.

Ursa nodded, picking the last nail up and looking fearfully down the darkening pathways around the little village. "Hama took me in a few weeks ago… Could we please go inside? If that monster attacks in the village, it could be here at any minute…" she asked, handing Ding his bucket back.

"Pah… it doesn't attack in the _village_, only in the forest!" Ding said offhandedly with a bat of his hand as he took the bucket of nails from her.

Ursa paused and frowned. "Then… why are you boarding your windows, sir?"

"… Well, one can never be too careful!" Ding yelled out, as though offended. He slammed the bucket onto the floor, slowly, before leaning up, slowly. "Right… _Years_ back from now, I was possessed by somethin' or other… No matter how much I tried to fight it, I couldn't control ma-self! Now, luckily for me, the sun started to rise and I got that control _back_ again! I just got the dang heck away from that place 's fast as my legs would take me."

"But… why would it want to take you to a mountain?" Ursa asked, looking over at the large mountain in the horizon, a wolf's howl sent that familiar chill up her spine. Suddenly, she felt afraid for Hama… where was she? She said she was out late, but she hadn't specified where she was going…

If the strange 'monster' took Hama away… well, Ursa didn't want to think about it…

The old man, meanwhile, shrugged, "I don't know… That's all I can tell ya… Can't exactly fathom it out myself…"

Ding picked the bucket of nails up again and approached his front door. "Now… I'm goin' inside, before that moon monster turns mean and starts to wander the village… You should do the same too, if you don't wanna draw suspicion to ya'self…" and with that, he closed his door and disappeared inside, leaving Ursa alone once again…

Not wanting to stay outside any longer, Ursa turned and walked back to Hama's Inn at a rushed pace…

Was he _crazy_? Or just paranoid to the point where the story formulated in his head and he was convinced it was true…? Or… had it really happened…?

Ursa started to question the whole tale itself… It was just _folklore_… but, had it been proven to be a hoax…?

Ursa knew that there were good and bad spirits; the psychology of the spirit world was just as complex as it was in the real world… But the spirits willing to cause harm were usually locked away in the other side…

Folklore and 'ghost stories' were frowned upon by shamans with some level of scepticism, surprisingly enough; they had always tried to fathom reason out of such tales, because to them if an evil, or even good, spirit has escaped without the use of a human bridge or had a specific purpose to have such access to the real world, the spirit world had a leak somewhere… and that never happened…

… Maybe this particular case was one of those rare few times it _did_ happen…

Ursa had studied and finished her training as a shaman at a young age, before her parents' deaths, and as such shaman customs and religion had not yet been drilled in to her mind and only methods that could be used to contact the spirit world stuck out vividly in her mind from her father's friend, Bai Qi's, teachings.

In all honesty, though Ursa had kept this quiet to keep her father and his friend happy, she saw their practises as a threat to the balance between the spirit world and the real world… The Avatar was the bridge to this world and the spirit world, yet some shamans attempted to abuse their knowledge of the spirit world through foolish tinkering, selfish motives or otherwise…

Trying to think no more of it, Ursa entered the Inn and closed the door quickly behind her. She looked around as she entered the kitchen, the Inn was pitch black… but Ursa thought better of setting a candle alight for numerous reasons…

As she put the fire lilies on a table, she then heard a door creak shut upstairs and froze on the spot, eyes wide.

"Hama…?" Ursa said; her voice audibly above a whisper.

There was a pause… then footsteps… but they weren't coming downstairs… Was Hama back home early…? Surely, she'd have heard Ursa… On the occasion where Ursa had entered the house with Hama upstairs, Ursa was used to the old walking downstairs to say hello… or just let her know that it was _her_ upstairs…

"Hama?" Ursa tried again, a little louder than before.

The footsteps were dying away…

Ursa swallowed whatever fear was building up inside of her; it _had_ to be Hama, she recognised those steps… Hama probably hadn't heard her come in; or even heard Ursa's inaudible calling…

Ursa swept out of the kitchen and slowly walked up the stairs, peering around the corner and down the hallway…

Ursa frowned… nobody was there…

'_Odd…'_ she thought to herself as she walked down the hallway, listening out for any sign of the Innkeeper, getting more and more nervous by the second…

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Meanwhile in the forest, a trio of black-clad young people, all around their 20's, were searching around an eerie area where the carriage, that was once whole four weeks ago, now lay in ruins strewn across the area…

The tallest was examining an odd-coloured patch which sat upon a splintered wall, long dried out and barely discernable as being blood…

There was no sign to either three of them, _yet_, of any bodies or of _some_ proof of evidence that this was the right carriage they were looking at here…

The medium-sized of the trio kicked a piece of the carriage debris elsewhere with his foot; making a path for himself as he looked around. "Well… Xing Hai's gonna be pissed…"

The tallest gave an internal sigh and ran his gloved finger across the dried, dark patch; "You're right there…" and examined the finger, not a trace had come off the patch… "Wonder what happened here…? And more importantly, _when_ it happened…?"

"Or more importantly _still_…" the middle-person muttered, continuing to recklessly kick, break and trample the wreckage as he wandered the scene of the mess. "Where that damn princess is…"

The smallest of the black-clad minions removed the burqa worn around his, or her, face and pushed their hood back; revealing a young woman in her early 20's intently looking around the eerie forest, untroubled by the surroundings.

"She might not have gotten far… Search the _entire_ area… We'll catch her ourselves and get that promotion." She said; she was the smallest minion but the boss, just like Ursa's captors from weeks ago.

"Promotion…?" the tallest of the three sat down, interlacing his fingers and lowering his head upon them as he rested his elbows on his legs. "Jing, at this point, I just want some _cash_…" he muttered bitterly.

"Or a nice, _long_ night at the whore house would suit me just fine…" the middle-sized minion put in, peering behind a tree in a frivolous action with one leg in the air.

"That's all you think about, Chai…" the tallest muttered, standing up and kicking a piece of the wreckage as hard as he could, "The _whore house_…" it hit the tree Chai was peering behind; and as Chai fell back on the floor in a reflexive response to this, something covered by a sheet rustled in the branches above, getting stuck in a tangle of branches a few feet below it.

All three of the minions looked up into the tree, frowning.

"… Chai… go take a look at that…" Jing muttered, backing up.

"… Why _me_?" Chai muttered back with fear creeping into his voice, eyes wide.

"Are you a ninja or _aren't_ you? Just _do it_!" Jing growled at her associate.

Chai sighed and did as instructed, climbing up the tall tree in a cat-like manner.

He slowly approached the blanket-wrapped… thing, careful not to snap the strong branches as he did.

He finally got up close the blanket, covered in dirt and very slightly torn up from pest activity… The bundle had this… awful _smell_ coming from it… He wrinkled his nose as he found an end to the blanket and began to unravel it… Soon uncovering a… _face_?

"_Shit!_" Chai fell straight from the tree and landed flat on his back, bringing the bundle down with him.

Enlai jumped back in fright as the wasted, putrid body fell down from the trees along with his friend.

Chai yelled out at the top of his lungs as he lay there on the ground, face-to-face with the bundled, decayed corpse.

Jing pulled the erratic man to his feet and shoved him away. She then looked over at the corpse, holding her nose. Examining it with her eyes and rolling it around with her foot so the blanket unravelled further and more of the body became visible; looking for any sign that might decipher the cause of his death or if, more importantly, he was on their side.

She took a few steps back just seconds later with a sigh, folded both arms and announced, "It's Chen… He's dead."

"No _fucking shit_, Jing!" Chai cried out, backing off as far away from the corpse as he could. "I've never smelt death before, but it's kinda fucking _obvious_, don't you think?"

"Shut up, Chai…" Jing said, crouching down and unravelling the rest of the corpse with her bare hands. Chai gave a groan of disgust that she completely ignored…

Jing continued to examine the dead body, turning it over and over until small patches of dirt began to stick to it. "His right hand's been amputated… There are no burn marks…" she muttered, turning him sideways slightly. "In fact… there aren't any marks _at all_…" she then repositioned the corpse of the man so that it lay on it's back, "Except for bruises…" and stood up.

"How could she have done this…? This kind of homicide _had_ to have some sort of professional approach to it…" Jing muttered, completely perplexed.

"Well… She _did_ murder the Fire Lord…" Chai put in, as though it explained everything.

Brushing her hands off, Jing turned to them. "Xing Hai didn't tell us she was a firebender… so I guess we'll go with the info he's given us… For now, assume that she's dangerous…"

Enlai grunted angrily and sat back down. "And what information _has_ he given us, Jing?"

"A…" Chai was about to begin, but then stopped. "Yeah… what _has_ he given us to identify her with?"

Jing held up a scroll. "A picture…"

"A picture!" Chai said, grabbing the scroll and looking at it. "Hey… she's hot."

"Yes, Chai, we know…" Enlai muttered; his arms now folded to add to his sour mood. "Her and every other girl who has the misfortune to be seen by you…"

"… What? I _appreciate_ women, _okay_?" Chai said, holding his hands out so that the scroll flipped open completely.

"Uh-huh, sure…" Enlai droned, resting his head against a tree.

Jing abruptly grabbed the scroll from Chai and rolled it back up. "That's the _only_ thing we have that we can link her appearance to, and it's in _black and white_ so for the love of Lee, be _careful_ with it!" she yelled out, hitting him hard with the scroll and then dropping it into her rucksack.

"So much for being careful…" Chai muttered, rubbing the sore spot from where Jing whacked him with the scroll.

"_What_?" Jing prompted him; turning back around to look at Chai, when she was originally walking away from him, wearing an irritated expression on her face.

"Nothing, Jing! Nothing…" Chai cried out, grinning to fake innocence.

Jing merely glared at him; thinking better than to try and chase her insipid 'friend' through the forest all night, she turned back around to face the surrounding darkness ahead through the forest's trees. "Come on… We're finding a river; I need to wash my hands…" Jing muttered, heading down the way she was facing.

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Ursa walked to the end of the hallway, scroll in hand. She'd searched every room for any sign of Hama and, upon entering her room, somehow had thought to take the scroll with her, being as it was something of a source of solace to Ursa… She felt like a little child with a toy platypus bear, but she was prepared to settle her nerves in any way she could, concerning this situation…

She came to a door… That last room she hadn't checked… Should she… _really_ open it? Or just go to bed and forget anything ever happened?

But… what if, per chance, that person who was walking down the hallway really _wasn't_ Hama…?

She opened the door. "Hama?" she whispered.

Nobody was in the room…

Ursa frowned and entered cautiously. It was too dark to see the entire room; but aided by the moonlight, her vision picked up the image of a single box sitting atop a table at the end of the room.

As Ursa curiously reached out to touch it, she suddenly felt her arm twist involuntarily. With a scream, she hit the wall and the scroll dropped to the floor.

Hama walked out of the darkness from around a corner with her hands held high.

"Get… away… from that box…" Hama muttered in a low hiss.

"Hama!" Ursa cried out in surprise, not sure of what else to say.

Ursa suddenly stumbled to her feet; but not of her own accord, she'd lost all control of her own limbs.

"What are you-? _Hama_, stop!" Ursa yelled as Hama yanked her sideways with this strange power, intensifying the pain.

The old witch just cackled and brought her down to her knees again.

"H-How are you doing thi-? _Hama_!" Ursa's voice rose upon the last word as Hama twisted her arm a little further.

"You once asked me… how I escaped from prison…" the old woman said, keeping the younger woman on the floor with the force of hand movement alone.

Ursa was _bewildered_; she really didn't know what to think at that moment, all she could seem to concentrate on was the pain that was travelling through her arms and back.

"When they left me to death in that _disgusting_ prison, my pure desire to be free led to a _great_ discovery…" Hama then moved her hands, twisting Ursa's body in a fashion that made her scream in pain. "The _rats_ that scurried into my prison cell at night… They were mere _liquid_ contained inside a shape of flesh…"

Hama relaxed her control as she sensed the tears of pain reach Ursa's eyes, "As the full moon strengthened me with each dreadful month, I came across that _brilliant_ discovery that led to my escape…" and twisted her body back to that agonising fashion once again, enjoying her pained yelping like it made up for _every_ lie…

"I call it…_bloodbending_…" Hama said in a sinister voice, finally allowing Ursa to collapse to the floor, whimpering like a wounded cub.

"I now use this power to inflict pain and suffering upon this nation… a nation who put me and _my people_ through such pain and hardship…" Hama muttered bitterly, staring down at her guest's curled posture on the floor like the young woman was a piece of dirt on the sole of her shoe.

Finding her strength again, Ursa used her arms to slowly hoist herself to her feet "… _You_… You're doing this… You're making people disappear… It… it all makes sense now… Where do you take them…? What do you _do_ to them?"

"That's none of your business, you fire-breathing viper…" Hama snarled, holding her hands up ready to strike with her bloodbending again.

Ursa stared at the woman while her face was still damp with tears, all the shock of Hama's apparent realisation of her firebending lost to the feeling of another set of tears approaching at the emotional hurt that was now, at last, being registered in her mind… "But _why_, Hama… you played me for a _fool_! You deceived me in to thinking that we were _friends_!"

Hama's expression contorted into an ugly scowl as she used her bloodbending to send Ursa flying into and against the wall. "You have _some nerve_ to scold me on such a matter as _deceit_, _Princess Ursa_!"

For a few moments, Ursa was in too much shock to reply… _How_ could she…?

"You… You _knew_?" she managed to splutter out.

"_No_, you stupid girl, I found out of course!" Hama snapped, sealing control of her guest using one hand while picking Ursa's scroll up off the floor with her other hand and flicking it open.

The scroll… _oh no…_ "Hama, I…" Ursa then bowed her head. "I'm sorry Hama… it was just not in my authority to tell you-"

"Oh, of course, I _understand_!" Hama shouted hysterically, approaching her while forcefully throwing the scroll on the ground; careful to trample it as much as she could as she walked forwards. "Such a woman of your status, and obvious air-headedness, could not _possibly_ comprehend that you're no more important in this world than _anyone else_!"

"… I'm sorry, _what_?" Ursa looked back up, frowning.

"Don't give me _that_!" Hama continued to shout, bordering a laugh with that last sentence. "I know _exactly_ what your plan is! The only reason you _staged_ that fake little scene in the forest a month ago, was so I would come to your aid and you'd be close by, ready to play me into your hands so that you could strike the final blow using that foul _firebending_ of yours! You're all the same, you _firebenders_… You just want to see the world _burn_!"

Ursa just stared at Hama, yet again lost for words. "Hama, that's… just _not_ true! I've been bani-!"

"_Enough!_" Hama snapped at the highest volume Ursa had ever heard from her… this was bad…

"I'm going to kill you, Princess Ursa…" Hama muttered sadistically, pulling a knife from her robes. "I'm going to make it _so_ painfully slow, you'll be _begging_ for death…"

"No… Hama, listen to me-! D-Do you _enjoy_ this sort of thing?" Ursa snapped, somehow the need to ask the question overrode all rational thought…

"Weren't you _listening_? I enjoy watching the people of the Fire Nation _suffer_ as they have once forced _me_ and my _tribe_ to…" Hama growled in a low voice, the hand she had the knife in then flicked to the side to display the blade to Ursa, as though pleading her to enjoy her last frames of vision in life while it prepared her for death.

"_You'll never see you family again!_" Hama yelled over her; holding the knife up, ready to strike.

"_Hama, wait!_"

As the crazy woman made to slice Ursa's throat, Hama stepped back and suddenly yelled out as she lost her balance and slipped forwards.

The old witch sliced a large cut into Ursa's forearm as her head hit the wall and she was knocked out cold... The scroll rolled into the wall next to her.

That scroll had saved her _life_... and had also given Ursa a chance to escape much more easily than she may have done had Hama been conscious. Still shocked and frightened from the sudden discovery of Hama's bloodbending, the excruciating use of it on Ursa, and of her hate for her; she had to wait a moment before sense gathered and she staggered to her feet.

She then tried to think rationally about what to do next…

Deciding it would be foolish to try and gather supplies, or even dress the knife wound now with this insane unconscious woman in the building; Ursa picked up her beloved scroll, rolled it back up, put it away inside the bodice of her dress and _ran_.

She charged out of the door, out of the village, and into the forest…

To at least attempt to cease the bleeding, she tore some of the ripped fabric from the sleeve of the same arm off and wrapped it around the knife wound as she ran.

She didn't care where she was going… Although she wasn't used to running at this pace and for this amount of time, she wouldn't stop… Fear drove her onwards and away from Hama's Inn…

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"Did you hear something…?" Chai asked, frowning as he heard the sound of snapping twigs and rustling leaves a short distance away from him and his friends' location.

All three got into a defensive stance…

Ursa emerged from the darkness, stopping as she saw the three ninjas and keeling over to catch her breath. She tried to speak as she looked up at the three strangers, still out of breath. "Who… are…?"

"Hey… that's _her_!" Enlai said aloud, pointing at her.

Ursa's blood seemed to freeze… It wasn't Hama, it was nerves. She stood up straight, having finally regained some of her breath… "What…? I don't…?"

"That princess Xing Hai wants dead…" Enlai continued with a satisfied smirk.

At last! The prospect of a good meal was standing right in front of him in all her… diminished splendour…

Chai gave a dirty grin. "So it is…"

As the ninjas approached her, Ursa drew back. She was ready to run if need be, but… What did they want from her?

Jing took the scroll out of her rucksack again, hardly able to believe her eyes, and unravelled it. Looking back and forth between Ursa and the scroll, she then smirked and licked her lips. "I think we hit the jackpot, boys..."

Maybe she'd find out later; for now Ursa _had_ to run. She turned and sprinted away through the trees.

"Get her!" Jing barked the order to both the boys, who jumped up into the trees upon her command.

Ursa quickly swerved to the side as Chai, slower on his feet, jumped down from a tree; missing Ursa completely and landing hard on his front on the punishing, solid ground.

"_Oh_… my _ribs_… Augh!" he complained as Ursa ran through the trees, determined to lose the three as though her life depended on it… and there was a good chance that it probably _did_ depend on it…

Unlike Enlai, who landed to help Chai on to his feet at a steady pace, Jing ignored her friend's pained moans and dashed through the trees after Ursa…

Ursa ran to-and-fro between the trees in random directions to try and loose the girl, avoiding the areas lit by moonlight to make her pathway appear less obvious.

They were with Xing Hai… this must be why those men in the carriage wanted her! She may be mistaken, but… why else would they go to such lengths to abduct her?

As if she needed any more risk in her life, _Xing Hai_ of all people was still out there with his sights still set on her…

Great…

Ursa hadn't worried about the man for _years_ now. She'd assumed that he'd just died of natural causes by now… How old must he be if he _was_ still alive…? _115_?

Things suddenly seemed to be getting a whole lot worse…

Jing suddenly landed in front of her, redirecting her attention… As Ursa tried to swerve in a different direction, the smaller woman tripped her and grabbed one of her arms to stop her from falling forwards, twisting it behind her back. "You're not going _anywhere_!"

Ursa yelled out in pain. Not only was Jing twisting her arm to a breaking point, but the wound from Hama's knife attack was still wrapped up on that very same arm. Ursa felt the pain shoot up to her shoulder as the wound's surface tissue ripped open with the pressure Jing applied to her arm.

Jing merely smirked, pulled her up and threw her to the floor. As Ursa landed hard on her back, Jing knelt down and muttered over her uncomfortably-positioned, dazed figure… "You should know better than to try and run alone in the dark when facing a trio of ninjas, princess…"

As Jing reached into her rucksack, Ursa regained composure and kicked the ninja girl hard across the jaw, sending her flying and skidding a few feet away and into a tree; the blow temporarily disorienting her.

Ursa took her chance; she scurried to her feet and ran through the trees as fast as her legs would carry her, clutching to the bleeding wound covered by the now blood-soaked cloth.

Hours later, around sunrise, Ursa was walking along a strange little beach-like area, completely exhausted… She stopped, completely out of energy from the effort to get as far away from that chaotic nightmare of a town as possible, to settle around a rocky area below a mountain and, somehow finding comfort lying on the solid surface, drifted off to sleep…

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"We found Chen's remains, and then… well…" Chai was now describing the situation to the three ninjas' leader, as he had so insisted, with his eyes wide.

They were now in a place _far_ away from the forest; the area appeared to be some form of large, underground wasteland…

The leader held a hand up. "You've said enough… I'm not interested in hearing about how you miserably failed to apprehend Kuzon's daughter…" he muttered, impatience bordering his voice. "Mission failed… _no_ pay. That's my final word…"

"Sir, you _have_ to give us the benefit of the doubt on this one! That princess… she's a _monster_! No normal person could've done what she did to Chen…" Chai said in exasperation, making up all the excuses he could for their failure.

Jing groaned and grabbed his ear, silencing him for a moment amidst his pained whining. "Master, what we're _trying_ to say is… We underestimated her, it was nothing _but_ a mistake; letting her go… A thousand apologies, Xing Hai, it won't happen again…"

Xing Hai merely groaned and massaged his temples, getting tired of the drivel these fools were trying to sell off to him in exchange for food money. "You are all, by far, the worst ninjas who will _ever_ have the privilege of being hired by me…"

"… Thank you, sir." Chai grinned and gave a low, cheeky bow.

Xing Hai stretched languidly in his seat. "There were _three_ of you against _her alone_… a spoilt _princess_. As if that isn't humiliating enough, it has decreased my respect for all three of you… Especially _you_, Jing… I expected better of you, being a loyal follower…" he muttered seriously.

Jing cringed, shame in her expression, as her master stood from his seat and folded his arms.

"Your mission from now on is to scout out and find her… Bring her to me _alive_. I don't care how long it takes, just _do it_!" he ordered all three of them with a growl.

"Why alive…?" Jing asked, standing up. "Master, _please_! We could kill her _much_ faster than we could try to restrain her-!"

"It's personal!" he interrupted her with a snap and a scowl; looking down with a sad, bitter expression on his face for a split second before looking back at his meddlesome minions.

Xing Hai drew a flame in his hand. As he approached the three ninjas, they drew back. This didn't seem to bother the man, however… it actually injected pride into his ego, knowing that he could strike fear into his minions just by setting his hands alight with fire… He closed his eyes and the flame increased in intensity, sparking white. "Also, it appears that if you want something done, you have to do it _yourself_…" he continued in a low voice.

He began to play with the flame, letting it slither round his fingers as though he himself were immune to it. A sinister hiss accompanied the deadly flame as he guided it around his hand. "I'll make _sure_ I kill her…"

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**_Happy Independence Day, America!_**

**_Felt like getting this chapter up early to speed the story along a little._**

**_It was pretty fun to write, though I feel like my mind is begging me to write to the point where I have to up the rating on this fic. heh_**

**_Not sure about how well I proof-read this chapter, but oh well, I'll correct any mistakes I see later. Hope you enjoyed it!_**

**_Fanfic rating may go up when I relook the ratings in a moment and decide it's for the best with this chapter._**

**_As always, reviews keep me going with this so if you have the time, please consider writing one!_**

**_PS. As some of you may have noticed, I corrected a little of the dialogue concerning Hama's bloodbending abilities. J. Idanian pointed out some things and I decided that I agreed, so there you have it! A slight change of luck for Ursa, and one she can feel slightly less guilty about this time. heh_**

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_**Jing, Chai, Enlai, Chen & Xing Hai are mine.**_

_**I do not own ATLA, for everyone's safety.**_

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	9. Food, Sheep & The Note

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A sharp splash sounded as a wooden ore hit the water.

A slouched figure in a small canoe was making a weak effort to row the small vessel across the endless ocean…

The once _Princess_ Ursa had gone from elegant royalty to a desperate drifter… all in the space of one month.

She had spent a good week or so, having lost count of the time, rowing across the sea in hopes of reaching some place, _any_ place, where she could hope to safely live out her life until Zuko came to find her…

Not used to hiking for prolonged periods without rest or proper nutrition; Ursa appeared slightly haggard, lean and cold as the winter nights began to approach.

The only possessions she had with her were the shoes and the tainted, ripped dress she was wearing; rope to tie the canoe to an anchor point which came with the canoe itself, a small device she'd created to help her make clean water out of the surrounding ocean's salty water, a crude net and fishing rod she'd made to catch some food which had, thus far, miserably failed her, an extensive supply of dock leaves and, of course, the scroll…

When she'd woken up after that small nap back around that 'week' ago, she'd taken some time to wander the beach and plan her next move… She had come across a small, intact canoe complete with an ore nearby a cave during her walk… Quickly gathering up those survival supplies she now had in the small vessel with her, she had untied the canoe from its post and rowed out to sea before anybody noticed her…

She already knew how to heat seawater to remove the impurities; she'd learnt this crucial survival skill from her elder sister, Anastasia, thus she was thankfully able to find _something_ of a supply of clean water to drink… However, that supply was very limited as she had to be sure the sea was at its calmest and, when she used it, to stop rowing to prevent the fire used to heat the seawater from tipping and burning the canoe; the process also took a while, and considering the fact that she couldn't hang around in the ocean forever and would have to be rowing at some _consistent_ pace, the most clean water she could coax out of the salted liquid was 2 large leaves-full a day, if she was lucky…

It would have been _so_ much easier if she'd heated it by hand, however she didn't trust herself to keep her firebending under control… she may burn the leaf, or even the _boat_, and all that effort would've been for nothing… and she had to _conserve_ her energy so she didn't suddenly involuntarily fall asleep…

The fish wouldn't bite… She didn't have any bait, and so her tacky hand-made fishing equipment didn't come in very handy… the most she'd been able to catch, and she was lucky, was a group of small fry fish… it wasn't _nearly_ enough…

She was losing energy from lack of food and drink; and in turn she could sense that she was slowly losing heat from her firebending… she'd first noticed this fact when she had tried to heat herself up on a cold night… That bitter night, Ursa had tried heating herself via thermal warming and had found herself shivering for most of the night as that warmth began to decrease in frequency… Yesterday night, she must have fallen asleep in her effort to keep herself warm as she woke up that morning, ill from the previous night's harsh, bitter cold winds and atmosphere…

Her negative thoughts were not helping her state as it stood, either…The nagging, frightened little voice at the back of her mind was present in the echo of each hopeful thought…

Even if she did reach shore, who could she turn to…? If anybody inside the Fire Nation were to recognise her, which even _Hama_ was easily able to do over time; Ozai would most likely be alerted and, to keep the peace, he'd have to send guards out to find her and…

She didn't even want to think about what would happen next.

As it stood, she was not sure if she would even escape the western lands with her life… maybe not even _Zuko's_…

Trying to flush those terrible thoughts and fears from her mind, Ursa turned her thoughts back to her current mission; if she did not find shelter, water and food soon…

She would die anyway…

It was better to row on than to linger and cower under mere _thoughts _of the consequences she would face if she was recognised among the great number of citizens in her homeland.

So Ursa did just that…

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Ursa groaned as she woke up later that day…

Tired from restless sleep those previous nights before, the sickly feeling she'd woken up with that morning had coaxed her into lying down to 'rest her eyes for a few moments' and she had, in turn, surrendered to some much-needed sleep…

Thankfully, while in slumber, the sea had been rather kind to her and the stolen canoe was still intact with all its items still safely tucked away…

After regaining some sense, as Ursa rubbed her eyes she noticed the strange lack of activity present underneath the vessel… In fact, it was completely still…

She looked around…

And concluded that she _had_ to be dreaming…

All around her; sweet, _sweet_ earth had formed itself into a crescent shape; and atop his crescent-shaped earthly ground, what appeared to be _mountains_ stood tall, looking down at Ursa and the smell vessel she had been travelling in for the past week…

Overwhelmed by the sight, Ursa stepped out of the canoe and began to explore her surroundings. Narrowing her eyes, she peered at the edge of the cliff; trying to make out exactly what it was that was lining them… _Grass!_ Where there was grass, there would be plant life; which may mean that there would also be _food_ up there, too!

She looked around, searching for the easiest possible way to climb up to the top of the cliff… After a minute or so; Ursa walked back to the canoe and tied it to a loose, yet fixed and sturdy, piece of rock sticking out of the mountain to prevent the odds that it would drift out to sea and leave her stranded on this island.

It would be a while before she managed to reach the top of those cliffs…

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Ursa had now spent a good two hours climbing up this thing… She'd had childhood experience with climbing, mostly to get away from Ozai, but she had never tackled climbing up a _landform_ before… At least the experience and need for something to eat drove her on; she'd probably still be back down with the canoe otherwi-

Ursa quickly turned her head back round to directly face the rocky wall that she was climbing; she wasn't afraid of heights, just afraid of what would happen if she lost her grip from where she was now… and focusing on any point other than the wall she was climbing up seemed, to Ursa, like a sure-fire way to loose that grip… The top of the cliff was visible to her; she just had to brave another few minutes or so of climbing… one mistake, and she'd plummet to her death.

Ironically, her ankle slipped on the meagre support she had given it, on what was barely a ledge of rock, _just_ as that thought had occurred to her… the support had suddenly eroded under her weight as she had involuntarily supported herself on that one leg upon stopping to think.

She let out a scream of panic and gripped tightly to the large, grassy ledge she had supported her arms on and quickly forced her entire body onto said ledge before she fell to her doom along with those rocks. She dared to look down as the ledge she had supported herself on just _moments_ ago fell towards the sea far below and, from what she could make out, cracked into pieces upon collision with one of the rocks that protruded from the sea's surface.

That ledge could very well have been her…

Ursa shuffled away from the edge, eyes wide, and gripped to the grass beside her. For the first time since she had started to climb upon finding a 'safe' route up the cliff, she was scared to keep climbing… if _only_ she knew how to jet propel, that would make things _so_ much easier… She made a mental note in her mind to practise her firebending whenever possible; though it got her into trouble just _being_ a firebender, it always helped…

She suddenly smelt burning grass… looking down, she saw that the grass she was gripping to was slowly turning black and quickly lifted her hand.

Well, it didn't _always_ help… sometimes; it was just a pain…

Ursa looked up; the top was _so_ close now, she couldn't sit here and worry… Taking a deep breath, she slowly stood to her feet and began climbing again.

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She'd made it… _alive_…

Forcing herself over the edge and onto the surface of the cliff, she had to crawl on all fours before collapsing to rest her tired limbs on the vast, new grassy ground.

When she finally looked up, the sight overwhelmed her back onto her knees again.

The climb was _so_ worth it… the cliffs were _beautiful_…

The island seemed to be uninhabited… It was strange. It was just grass, grass and… sheep… koalasheep… and the nearest group was staring at her. Ursa frowned right back at them as a few responded with a gentle bleet.

They looked completely harmless… Ursa approached them cautiously regardless; not knowing what wild sheep were like… as she reached them; she shifted past two of them to stand in the middle of their circle. They looked so fluffy and cute, and they showed no sign of wanting to attack… Ursa smiled, petted one of them, and then walked out of their little circle and off to find something edible to eat.

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Iroh entered the palace's waiting room…

He wasn't sure if it was good to be back in the palace or not… It was not the comfortable, lively atmosphere he had once remembered… Now, it just seemed like something of a necropolis to the elder royal…

His feelings were raging in an impossible conflict in his mind. He'd lost friends during the siege… His beloved son… and now, his father was gone too… There was only so much that the ageing former general could take…

While being followed by a captain who had lectured him of the rights and wrongs of the situation ever since the beginning of the journey home, the grieving prince could think of nothing more than returning to his quarters for some much needed rest…

"But this isn't right, General Iroh… you should at _least_ protest-!"

"No…" Iroh muttered to the incessant captain, bowing his head after shaking it. "No…"

So what if Ozai had taken the throne…? There was nothing Iroh could do about it… The man standing behind him was still young… still inexperienced, even for someone of such a rank as a captain… He was brave of heart, headstrong, confident…

_Blind_…

"But… sir-" the captain bravely tried again…

"_No!_" Iroh barked, shocking the captain a few feet away from the damaged, hostile figure that stood in front of him.

"I'm sorry… that is my final word on the matter…" Iroh said softly, turning to face the captain. "Go back to your family, Zhiqiang… don't let your wife and child worry for you for another minute…" Iroh then gave the man a bitter smile. "You're lucky to have them both…"

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The long grass growing from the mountainous cliffs flowed gently in the breeze all around the island… the cold winds that swept this grass, accompanied by the brightening of the surrounding sky, stirred the island's only human inhabitant awake.

Sleeping among the flock of koalasheep she had 'befriended' upon her arrival, Ursa sat up from the sheep she was using as a pillow and her first thoughts of hunger led her eyes trailing over to her food supply…

Well, what _was_ her food supply…

The sheep who were awake were feasting on the last of the fruit she'd gathered from around the island…

Ursa groaned and lay down on the floor in response to her annoyance…

She should have suspected that this would happen, but still… might the greedy animals have saved some fruit for later so she could at _least_ have some berries for herself…? Or _anything_ without teeth marks?

She sighed and stood to her feet, concluding that her aggravation over the matter wouldn't feed her tortured stomach, and set off towards the bushes to find some breakfast…

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Ursa had filled herself up on purple berries… mostly due to her own laziness and the lack of selection of fruit the island seemed to have… She didn't care about the fact that her tongue was now purple; at least she had fed herself…

With nothing better to do, the former princess decided that broadening her knowledge on what kind of food she could find around the island would definitely help her in the long run…

She couldn't live off fruit forever… She was getting ahead of herself, but maybe she could teach herself to hunt after she left the island? There seemed to be nothing but koalasheep on these cliffs, and Ursa knew that she probably wouldn't have the heart to kill them even if they _were_ a plausible cuisine…

But this was an island, surrounded by water; surely, she could find _something_ to eat with any luck if she dared to climb down the cliffs again and go fishing?

Ah, there was a lemon tree! She knew that lemon went well with fish, which gave her all the more reason to think about attempting fishing when the water was calm…

As she walked to the tree with the intention of climbing it, she heard… the _strangest_ sound… Like a sheep was in pain… She looked to the side upon hearing noise in that direction and her eyes widened as she caught sight of a fully-grown boar-q-pine charging towards her, mere _feet_ away from her location!

Doing what came to her by reflex, Ursa set the entire animal alight with a single blast of fire. Afterwards shocked by what she had done and unable to put the fire out, she ran away as the painful dying screams echoed throughout the atmosphere, not once looking back at the huge, dying predator who could've mangled or probably even _killed_ her…

The koalasheep had stirred a commotion among their numbers upon hearing the dying cries of the boar-q-pine, and perhaps the sound, smell or maybe even sight of the burning, long before Ursa arrived back in the meadows; out of breath with her eyes wide.

Later on, Ursa was back at the scene putting out the last of the fire she had created using her feet and, rationally, water from the steaming crater nearby. A few young sheep had accompanied her; out of curiosity, Ursa guessed… the adults of the herd, obviously knowing better than even _she_ did of the predators that lurked around these parts of the island, had kept to the meadows.

She dared herself to take a full look at the boar-q-pine… and shuddered at the sight.

She had _killed_ the boar-q-pine, and she couldn't even eat it… How did she expect to survive if she shuddered at the sight of a burnt predator? How do you hunt and eat an animal…? For one, how does one skin an animal and cook the meat? For two… _how does one skin an animal_? It's _cruel_. But… wasn't burning it alive just as cruel…?

Realising that she already couldn't hunt to save a pentapus, Ursa led the young koalasheep to the burnt carcass after she had cleared all trace of flame surrounding it and let them… stare at it while she returned to looking for what she _hoped_ was non-poisonous fruit instead…

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It had only been about a month, but it seemed like an eternity since she'd been gone…

Ozai had everything he wanted… except for Ursa.

He'd never felt so miserable. No matter what he thought of her, or the way he had treated her over the past few years, Ozai still had those moments where it was difficult for him to get to sleep without some sort of substitute for his departed wife; most of the time, it was just an extra pillow…

He was torn between _hating_ her for choosing her brat of a son over the rest of her family… over _him_… And loving her for the unconditional love she had given him when she _had_ been around; which more than made up for the lack of it he had been given by his father…

If there was one thing Azulon did right in Ozai's upbringing, it was betrothing him and Ursa…

There was always going to be a place in his heart for her… She had given him assured support when nobody else would; she had made him feel like he _meant_ something in this world; she had been a best friend, a lover, fantastic in bed if you gave her a little incentive…

She had given him the throne…

It wasn't fair… In life, there was always _something_ that stood in Ozai's way… selfishly and ungratefully taking what he _needed_ in life away from him and giving absolutely nothing back…

Like his wretched elder brother…

He hadn't bothered to accompany his children to the waiting room to greet Iroh home, nor had he even spared a thought to inform them of his return today…

Because, in Ozai's opinion? That squat, tea-loving fool was no brother of his…

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It was an odd night for thunder… but Mother Nature had commanded it, and so it must be…

The koalasheep had all taken shelter from the storm inside the steaming crater with Ursa, so she was surrounded by clumps of snoozing wool… Before the sheeps' abrupt arrival, she had been drying herself off from a dip in the springs for a wash using an evaporating trick she had learnt with her firebending many years ago; when she was suddenly stampeded by a flock of muddy, drenched sheep…

Oh well… there was no harm in washing up again in the morning…

Ursa shifted against the large sheep she was lying next to, causing it to shift in turn with a light bleet before returning to it's snoozing…

She looked over at the area where the rain beat down into the springs, through the opening on the 'roof' of the crater. Her and the sheep were, of course, taking shelter in a small cave that connected the crater to the meadow outside, sparing them all of the heavy rain that accompanied the storm outside…

Ursa took the scroll out from her dress again and cuddled it to her chest as she laid back down, ready to fall asleep amidst her fluffy neighbours.

Yes, it was a stupid and sentimental thing to be doing, but who was to know but the sheep…?

As Ursa curled up to make herself feel somewhat _comfortable_ on the earthen floor, she tightened her grip on the scroll and drifted off to sleep against the large sheep that was generous enough to share its body warmth with her for the night…

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"Do you need anything, Prince Iroh…?" a concerned servant asked, accompanied by around 5 others of the same occupation; all following Iroh as he walked down the hallway, merely intending to find peace in the sanctuary that was his quarters.

"No thank you… I am very tired; I just need to rest… You gentlemen should do the same… it's getting late…" Iroh said unemotionally; well, unemotionally for _him_, anyway…

"Yes sir." The first servant said with a bow, walking away.

"Of course, sir." The rest all said in chorus to one another, also bowing as they turned to walk away, following the first servant…

Iroh gave a listless sigh and yawned, giving a feeble stretch in response to his tired body and mind…

He was now walking down the familiar hallway that was the location of all the bedchambers… finding his quarters without difficulty, the damaged and defeated royal walked inside, closing the doors behind him, and sat down on his bed with his head bowed.

The defeat settled in…

The siege of that magnificent city was no more…he'd lost…

But more importantly, he'd lost his son… his pride and joy… he was almost as devastated now as he was the moment he was informed of his loss…

And now, his father…

It seemed like nothing in the world could ever feel right again…

Glancing around to try and take his mind off his tear-jerking thoughts, Iroh's eye caught one of the most treasured objects he owned in his room…

His tea tray; its intricate, golden patterns, slightly spoilt by tea stains… reminded him of the beauty in his life that he'd selfishly cast-aside in his stride in his desire to attain more…

His wife… and now his son…

Would he _ever_ learn his lesson…?

Iroh walked over to the tray and picked it up; his eye then catching Ursa's note, light as a feather as it twirled in the air on its journey to Iroh's bedroom floor.

It had landed with the blank-side facing the floor, the inked side in turn facing Iroh's head as he looked down at the strange item… He had never remembered leaving anything under that tray…

Wait…that was… _Ursa's_ writing?

He hadn't seen his sister-in-law all day… not even by the turtleduck pond, as he had passed it…

Very unusual…

The former crown prince frowned, picked the note up and began to read it…

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_Dearest Brother-in-Law,_

_By the time you read this note, you will already have heard of your father's death… I can not express in words just how… how sorry I am… Loosing Lu Ten must have been hard enough for you, I'm sure… if anything, I'd say that you have suffered the most out of all of us… my condolences, dear…_

_I've had to take my leave… I've been sworn to secrecy about the events that have led to my departure and, though I'm not quite sure myself, exactly where I am going…_

_I don't know when I'll be back… or if I will ever be able to return…_

_But please; it will be too much to ask of you, but I _beg_ of you… please, take Zuko under your wing… look after him, keep him safe… you are the only person I can trust anymore…_

_Azula has her father's love to protect her from harm… However, Zuko does not…_

_He's more vulnerable now than he's ever been in his life…_

_He's only a child; he should not have to suffer for our family's mistakes…You of all people will know what I'm talking about…_

_Whether you wish to show this note to Zuko is up to you… but I'd suggest, and it pains me to say this… that he is kept in the dark about these events for his own safety… I trust you, Iroh, you are a wise man…I am not afraid to let you decide…_

_Burn this note when you find it… Zuko's life may depend on it if the note is found by anyone but you… _

_Thank you…_

_I hope to see you again… if only for one more time…_

_All my love…_

_Ursa_

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_No…_ Iroh looked up, eyes wide; almost dropping the tea tray as he placed it back on his desk. Loosing Lu Ten and his father had destroyed him, and now _this_…?

He stood up, folding and pocketing the note. He had to see his nephew before _he_ disappeared too…

Iroh opened the doors to his quarters and, closing them both behind him, walked over to Zuko's quarters and knocked on the doors.

"Zuko…?" Iroh said aloud. "I did not see you in the waiting room… are you well?"

Zuko opened his quarter doors and stared up at his uncle in disbelief, "Uncle… Uncle Iroh? Dad never told us you were arriving!"

Iroh frowned, "He didn't…?" and scratched his beard while in thought. "I can't imagine why… He knew I was coming today, after all."

Zuko took Iroh's hand and pulled him inside his quarters. As his nephew rushed to his bedside table, Iroh shut the quarter doors around the same time as Zuko picked something up and ran back towards him.

His nephew then dangled the dagger up to his own height. "I got your dagger, uncle… Thanks." Zuko then drew the dagger from the sheath and glanced at the inscriptions. "I love it." He then said, smiling up at Iroh.

Iroh smiled back; he was happy to see that Zuko, at least, was trying to make the most out of a bad situation… or was he?

Iroh frowned as his nephew's face then fell and he bowed his head.

"Uncle… _what_ is going on? What happened to grandfather? Where's mom? How come da-father… got the throne instead of you?" Zuko asked, some of the words had been said quickly as though it relieved the emotional pain that the question brought with it…

"… I am as in the dark about this as you are, Zuko…" Iroh said sincerely, grimacing in sync with Zuko.

Zuko then looked up at him, "I'm sorry, uncle…"

"… About what, Zuko?" Iroh asked him; sitting down on his nephew's bed as he, in turn, sat down next to him.

"Lu Ten…" Zuko muttered in a forlorn voice.

Iroh paused for a moment… "I'm sorry about your mother, Zuko…" he looked down at Zuko; who now had his face in his knees and his back to Iroh…

Iroh looked away uncomfortably; then put a hand on his small back. "I am here for you, nephew…" Iroh said to him in a comforting tone.

Zuko just kept his back to Iroh… then laid down on the bed, curling up while hugging his pillow…

Before he knew it, Zuko was then _sobbing_ into that pillow.

Iroh's expression fell yet again… This was more complicated than looking after Lu Ten; a boy who always wore an extraordinarily brave face, no matter what the situation… Lu Ten had always been carefree; the boy had that kind of charm about him where you'd find it impossible to ever find him truly upset for too long…

Yes; Zuko was more complicated, he could already tell…

Iroh could do nothing, but let a stray tear escape as his grieving nephew cried his troubles away.

He took Ursa's note in the palm of his hand; and just before Zuko hugged his uncle, Iroh burnt the folded parchment to ashes and stored the evidence back into his pocket.

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**_Hooray for Iroh! Hopefully, I'll get to write him a little more as I continue with this fic…_**

**_So then, 9 chapters! I seriously never thought I'd even get this far; thank you so much to everyone who's read, reviewed, favourited the story! Some of the things I've heard about the fic and the amount of favourites I get a month… it's just an honour. You guys all keep me going; I probably wouldn't even have made it this far without you._**

**_Please review, let me know how I'm doing with this fanfic and if you like where it's going or not. Give me your opinions; I'm not too easily swayed by public opinion, but your input does help!_**

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**_I do not own Avatar or any of the characters in this chapter._**

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	10. Thieves & Ninjas

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Waves lapped up against the shore as the cold morning's winds swept sand across the deserted beach…

Deserted, that is, until four pairs of feet landed on the sand's surface near the mountainous area of the oceanfront. All four of the figure's faces, spare one, were almost completely covered by black veils.

The one figure whose face could be seen turned as the largest of the group addressed him.

"Are you _sure_ she came here, Chai?"

"No, Hop… How many times? I'm following what Jing wrote on this piece of parchment!" Chai replied, waving the paper in his face.

As Hop took the parchment from him and muttered the words he was reading on it the tallest of the group of four, a slender female who stood around six foot in height, walked in front of Chai…

"Isn't it entirely possible that she didn't come here?" she growled in a bored-sounding tone of voice, raising her head to appear as though she was looking down on him.

"Well, _Zira_, isn't it entirely possible that she _did_?" Chai answered back, sounding agitated. "Look, guys; all the clues me, Jing and Enlai managed to pick up led to this beach. That record of the clues we picked up is the best thing we have to go by of that rotten princess' whereabouts, so we'd better make the most of it…"

"Well _maybe_ if you and your friends had killed the princess there and then, we wouldn't be on this pointless search right now!" the woman snapped at him.

"For your information, Xing Hai told us to bring her back _alive_! Easier said than done, that woman was like… well, it was like trying to catch smoke with your eyes closed! She was, well, very sneaky and… _murderous_!"

"I'll bet…" Zira muttered, rolling her eyes.

Hop then bustled up to Chai "Is that a way of covering up for the fact that you failed to catch up to a woman?" he asked, smirking at his friend.

Zira merely groaned, at an audible volume, at the sexism of that comment. Chai; already agitated from a night of no sleep and the incessant obnoxious comments that the taller woman of the group was churning from her mouth like air, took offense… He walked in front of Hop, stopping him dead in his tracks. "Like you could've done a better job, _fatass_!" Chai snapped, taking an offensive fighting stance as he finished his sentence.

Suddenly, a whip of water slinked out from the ocean's surface and whacked both Hop and Chai hard in the face and sent them landing hard into the sand. Zira stood to her feet, having been the only one with the sense about her to duck.

The second tallest member of the group of four, less than an inch shorter than Zira to be exact, silently walked past the aforementioned and then through Hop and Chai, leaving them both clutching to their faces and groaning in pain.

Zira looked down at the two malingering men and shook her head. "You're an earthbender and you didn't see that coming, Chai…? Pathetic…"

"Hey, I can't sense _water_, cut me some slack!" Chai yelled back at her, standing to his feet.

Hop sat up; still clutching to his face, he muttered- "Stupid mute…" –at a volume he was sure the unnamed group member couldn't hear…

"Don't talk trash about her, man… She might cut your head off." Chai muttered to him, lazily waving out a hand, or it might be true to say an _arm_, to help his overweight friend onto his feet again.

"… _She_?" Hop exclaimed in surprise with a frown to accompany that surprise. He accepted Chai's helping arm and stood up, almost sending his friend back into the ground.

But rather than whine about almost eating sand again, Chai just stared at Hop as though he was some kind of alien creature. "… You never noticed the _boobs_? Come on, Hop, I thought you were a _voyeur_! Don't disappoint me like this, man-!" Upon noticing the dangerous glare that Zira was now giving her raving accomplice, Chai nodded and answered his friend's question. "Snigurka…"

"How come I've never heard of her before…?" Hop asked, frowning again.

"Because you're a fat, lazy cook who pays no mind to his own body odour…" Zira muttered; striding to catch up to the waterbender and leaving both Chai and Hop struggling to try and keep up with her. "She's a mysterious one, Snigurka…" She then slowed her pace so that she could continue talking and be heard. "Never takes that veil off. Only really communicates on parchment for missions, or when she whips the shit out of whiners like you. Pretty cool… for a waterbender, anyway…"

Chai frowned and looked ahead. The lone-wolf waterbender must have been more than 20 feet away from them, from where he was looking… She seemed also to be scanning the seafront, for any kind of clue or a lead; it was obvious that she was here with them with the mission on her mind and nothing more…

"… Is she really mute; or is it all a show?" Chai asked, looking at Zira.

"I don't know… why don't you ask her yourself?" Zira replied, looking back at him with a smirk.

Chai paused, eyes wide. "… Nah… I'll leave her to her work. She's doing a pretty good job out there, after all…"

Giving off something of a satisfied chuckle, Zira turned in another direction and walked towards the very area Ursa had stopped to rest at… an area littered with the remains of what appeared to have been a small fire and some remains of the little devices Ursa had built for herself to help her survive while rowing across the ocean.

Zira scanned the items… "Hmm…" she muttered; frowning at the aggressive-looking burn marks present on most of the scraps. "That's unusual…"

Kicking sand over the charred material, she turned back to the approaching duo and folded her arms. "Chai… I think your lady-friend went on a little sea excursion…

Chai frowned. "How do you know-?"

"Trust me…" Zira interrupted, sparing Chai of the details. "I know…"

Chai, completely perplexed, looked down at the clear area; but shrugged it off, wanting to avoid more negative comments directed at him, and announced to the group, "Suppose we'd better report this back to Xing Hai…"

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Ursa stirred as the sun shined over the island; lending the grass a fresh glow, the sheep some extra insulation and Ursa some much-needed warmth… Winter was approaching _far_ too quickly for her liking; as such most of the nights felt cold due to the surrounding ocean's winds and, well, her lack of a palace to shelter in…

She sat up, stretching and basking in the warmth of what was _finally_ a new day. Last night's wind was so chilly, she found herself waking up and dragging sheep in around her in an attempt to get warm; and found that she now stunk of the creatures…

She then got to work on her usual daily routine since she'd taken refuge on this island… she looked at the fading knife scar on her arm and thought about her family, sitting for a moment before she walked off to gather some fruit; since the encounter with the boar-q-pine, she now felt inclined to keep her guard up just doing this one simple thing…

When she had enough edible fruit to eat, she walked into the steaming crater and feasted before washing up. She had tried bathing yesterday morning only to be untimely disturbed, yet again, by the koalasheep…

Still, she had been sleeping huddled against sheep all night and regardless of whether she'd washed yesterday or not, she'd still need to wash up again now…

Finishing up, she threw her dress back on when it was also all dry and examined the edges… The material had that strange, outdoor smell and was starting to rip and tear at the hem from the exposure to germs, the cleaning of those germs, twigs, etc…

It was a burning reminder that she needed to get back to civilisation and find some new clothing and, perhaps more importantly, a way out of the Fire Nation and into the Earth Kingdom; maybe she could find a new life there; or at least _some_ way to stay healthy, or maybe just _alive_, for the time being…

She sat on the edge of the springs, pulling the skirts of her dress back so she could slip her feet into the water and relax while she planned her next move.

A nudge from behind that almost sent her whole body into the water made her jump out of her skin; gripping to the edge and looking behind her, she saw that a koalasheep had merely decided to rest against her and gave a sigh of relief…

Regardless of how much she found comfort in the simple company of a few sheep, of course compared to the company of what she had found out to be a mad old woman who'd tried to kill her before her untimely leave, she needed to be surrounded by people again… It was too quiet here; and while she enjoyed a bit of silence in her life, it wasn't something she was used to and she found herself going slightly mad sometimes…

Petting the sheep behind her, she slipped her feet back on the ground and into her shoes, stood up and walked off to gather some more fruit for, what she decided, would be her last meal before her journey back to civilisation…

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Ursa fell hard onto her back around three hours later, cringing in pain before she sat up and stretched to try and relieve it.

"_Ugh_, I'll feel that in the morning…" she groaned.

Her quick, yet careful, climb down from the cliffs had ended abruptly as she fell back, tripping on a small rock that must have eroded under her weight.

Fortunately for her, the drop was not from a distance capable of breaking any bones; however, she could guess her back would hurt for a few days and she'd have twisted her ankle slightly from the fall… at least the pain wouldn't be present by the time she got to shore.

She sighed and stood to her feet; guessing right about her ankle as she had to take light steps with her left foot.

Looking over into the canoe; Ursa found that the items she'd gathered and made around a month or so prior were all, miraculously, still there…

Smiling; she pushed the vessel back into the calm waters of the ocean and, jumping in and taking the ore, rowed away from The Black Cliffs.

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A dark-skinned man, rather young but calm and mature in attitude, was sitting in a chair with his eyes closed and arms folded, half-asleep outside a defaced bar; strangely almost completely clad in black fabric despite the Fire Nation's warm, midday sun's blazing heat…

He was completely bald spare a section of hair at the back of his head that he'd worked into a plait; a plait covering a small section of a rather large third-degree burn visible on the back of the young man's neck.

He shifted his foot slightly and turned his head to the side, opening his eyes.

Moments later; a tall man with shoulder-length, sandy-coloured hair appeared from around the corner and approached; waving at him jubilantly.

"Hey, cap!" the sandy-haired man said cheerfully to the bald man while taking a seat next to him. "See the earthbending's as sharp as ever."

"Not necessarily… your steps were so loud, I _heard_ you coming ten seconds ago…" the captain muttered, sitting up straight. "I trust that from your ever-cheery attitude that you found something good, Lo-Kun…?" he enquired, raising his brow.

Lo-Kun's expression fell. "Well… err, _about_ that…" Lo-Kun started; he ended up merely pausing and grinning nervously. "We didn't think you'd be expecting much… Don't be mad, we-we don't really know where to start-!"

"_Relax_…" the captain told the lesser-ranked in a stern tone. "I'm not mad…"

"You're not…?" Lo-Kun asked, frowning in surprise.

The captain shook his head, taking a glass of water from the table. "We're meant to be finding a princess… With no leads, few clues and a piece of parchment with an artist's rendition of her… I can't say I blame you." He muttered, taking a drink. "Xing Hai needs to send more of us for this… but he won't. He's counting on us all to handle this by ourselves…"

"Well… we _are_ doing all we can, considering the situation… Chai's off with Zira, Hop and the waterbender looking for leads based on what we found." Lo-Kun said nervously, obviously not used to working under a person who didn't bark orders at him or loose his temper over the slightest of failures.

As if on cue; a messenger hawk abruptly landed on the table, making Lo-Kun jump out of his skin and the captain look to the side with his eyes wide.

He smirked. "Finally…"

Without another word, the ninja captain took the message from the bird's back and unrolled it.

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Two weeks later, Ursa pulled the boat onto a sandbank and left every item but the scroll in her dress in the small vessel… she wouldn't need them anymore.

She washed the best she could, considering she was using seawater, before spotting a dirt-path that led through a forest nearby… she followed its trail and set off in search of the nearest dock.

Meanwhile; a young girl with two long pigtails wearing, what looked like, a black leotard that ended in a pleated skirt skipped down a street in North Chung-Ling not too far away from Ursa's location…

The girl stopped when she reached the Post Office to coo over the messenger hawks. Another woman, similarly attired in black, walked over to the younger ninja; doing nothing but fold her arms and roll her eyes as she watched the girl fuss over a young hawk.

"You know, Jing…?" the younger of the two said to the elder. "I've always wanted a messenger hawk…"

"M-hmm…" Jing muttered; her arms still folded… It was plain and obvious that she was in Chung-Ling on a more serious note; and from the stern expression on her face, which the lesser-experienced member of their army of ninjas was oblivious to, she didn't appreciate such company as hers holding Jing back from her mission.

Eventually, however, the younger woman seemed to pick up some trace of a hint and pranced off elsewhere, leaving Jing alone.

Elsewhere; a familiar tall, sandy-haired man was on an important mission of his own…

"The shops here look _fabulous_!" he exclaimed; the young amateur ninja was already alienating the residents of North Chung-Ling by prancing into, and around, every shop he passed.

"How much longer do we have to deal with these rookie morons for…?" Enlai muttered to Jing, teeth gritted. "And I don't appreciate having to follow chrome-dome's orders like some useless tool-"

"Don't _call him that_!" Jing growled, walking away from him and over to the captain. "Just say the word; I'll beat them all senseless…" she growled, folding her arms for the tenth time in the past hour.

"Let them have their fun… We're stationed here for 24 hours, so we might as well let them run amok if it's not hurting our mission…"

Jing frowned and turned to the captain. "You're awfully patient for a captain, sir… And if you don't mind me saying, rather lax…"

The captain leant against the wall, folding his arms. "You have to be to deal with the rookies effectively… It doesn't do me any favours with the boss' temper, but it gets the job done and done decent… In all honesty; the two newbies and your apathetic friend aren't much use in this mission with the low attention spans they all share, anyway…"

"Why would you say that?" Jing inquired, arms now unfolded and her brow raised high. "Your loyalty to Xing Hai is _almost_ unmatched… You're one of his _favourites_!"

Damn, this girl was creepy… The captain turned to her with a frown on his face, unfolding his arms. "I'm not looking for his praise… I'm looking to fulfil his ambition to rid the world of the spiritual impurity that has the nuts to continue poisoning it."

He looked down at Jing. She appeared… _ashamed_ of herself… "Sorry…" she muttered, stepping away from him.

The captain sighed. "Watch the new kid; he's getting overexcited, and I don't want a boner to mess up our entire mission…"

He then walked over to a nearby house while adding, "And you _know_ what I mean by that…" before jumping from roof to roof to reach the highest point of the city, where he could scan the area from a better perspective.

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Ursa then entered the same city later that day; trying to walk down the lesser-inhabited streets to avoid human contact.

When she reached what appeared to be the centre of the city, however, something made her freeze…

A statue of Ozai… either being given the finishing touches or just being polished. It stood in the very centre of the area, taller than any house in the entire city and half the size of the mountains.

It was almost as big as his ego… Ursa rolled her eyes and scrunched her nose. Obviously, Ozai was going to waste no time in making sure his name was known and remembered by all now that he was the Fire Lord…

Not wishing to look at _anything_ resembling her husband, Ursa turned a corner and walked down another street with a furious expression on her features.

Halfway down the street, she was then stopped by a man with two bottles in a limp and a swagger. He stunk of cheap liquor…

'Oh no…' Ursa thought to herself, backing up slightly.

"My friends and I… we're feeling so fly; come and join us, girl, and we'll make sweet love to _you_!" the man droned in a sing-song voice, waving his arms in the air and whistling a tune afterwards.

Ursa, frowning with her eyes wide, simply told the drunken man, "I'm hungry…" before edging around him and walking off at double her normal pace.

"_Wait!_" he droned again, slumping against a wall. "Oh… _Food_? I could give you something _good_ to eat!" he then called after her, struggling to stand up.

Ursa just kept walking until she reached the busy market, quite some distance ahead after she turned a corner; absolutely starving, she was ready to steal to survive if need be… spying some berries at a fruit stall, she ducked down behind a stack of barrels near the berries and waited for the opportune moment…

Meanwhile; Jing was looking down at the market from a roof above one of the stalls, a hand above her forehead to shield her eyes from the blaring sun. Suddenly, she gasped and tugged at Enlai's hair from beneath his veil.

"OW! _What?_" he growled, slapping her hand away before turning to face her.

"There she is!" Jing whispered in a harsh tone, pointing to Ursa's silhouette down in the market.

Just as she did, the former princess snatched two hands-full of berries from a basket, ducked back down to her hiding place and hid them in a bag she had previously swiftly swiped from the stall owner.

Enlai paused as he watched Ursa feast on the next hand-full she'd grabbed while ducking back down to her hiding place again. "Damn… she's hungry."

"She's probably been at sea this whole time…" Jing muttered; then grinned. "Good… this will make the mission a _whole_ lot easier…"

"Stay here, _and keep an eye on her_." she whispered; and without another word, Jing set off to alert the captain, not too far ahead from her and Enlai's location…

When Ursa was satisfied, the bag was full and the coast was clear, she fled out from her hiding place and walked away; out of eyes-view of the stall owner, not intent on getting arrested if the man recognised the bag…

"Hey… _where's my money_?" the stall owner cried out just as Ursa was approaching the end of the street. "I've been robbed!"

Ursa quickly fled around the corner without another word and tried to act natural while attention was drawn to the fruit stall owner. She knew she now had to find a dock as quickly as she could, before she was found out…

"Let's go…" the captain muttered, the whole group of five now together and watching Ursa's every move. While commotion was still breaking out down in the market, the stall owner now pointing an accusing finger at a rival stall owner, the five ninjas headed quietly in Ursa's direction from the rooftops.

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Ursa ran through a rocky area later on; when she reached the top of the sloping earth, the former princess looked around and her eyes seemed to light up upon the sight of what _definitely_ appeared to be a dock to her left.

She ran in that direction as fast as she could, the surface she was on being rock, using all the energy she could coax from her feast of a few hands-full of berries.

She'd left the bag elsewhere. She was planning on stowing away on a ship, and she wouldn't need money to stow away _or_ in the Earth Kingdom, where the currency was probably notably different. Besides, she may well get herself into trouble for having it if the stall owner had bothered to appeal to the authorities of the area or the jangle of the coins brought attention to a hiding place when she stowed away on one of the ships…

The group of five was still keeping track, not too far away from Ursa's location.

"She's heading for the _docks_…?" the youngest of the group said, sounding surprised. "Why would she want to go there…?"

"To leave the Fire Nation like she's _supposed_ to, maybe…?" Jing retorted in a pressurized voice, rolling her eyes at her teammate's lack of knowledge.

"_Yeah_, but…" the younger woman muttered, frowning. She then sighed and shook her head, "Nevermind…"

Jing just folded her arms and gave an arrogant smirk before the captain took the scroll from Jing's bag and unrolled it, obviously not trusting the young woman's word as well as his own judgement… she frowned and looked at him and he, in turn, ignored her.

The captain then looked back at Ursa and squinted his eyes, moving a little closer to her location to try and attain a better vision of her to analyse the details, and nodded in confirmation.

"That's her…" he muttered, rerolling the scroll and giving it back to Jing.

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When Ursa reached the docks, she thought better of the situation and hid behind a stack of crates. It was obviously an area for trading ships… and a shady area at that.

The sky was darkening slightly and dock workers were beginning to light lanterns while going about their daily tasks of organising and loading crates…

Ursa looked over to the ships all lined up at the docks. Only one seemed to be deserted…

It was a large ship; Ursa assumed it was for heavy cargo… She nodded to herself; it would be a good place to stow away in before she reached the Earth Kingdom.

Waiting until nobody was looking; Ursa quickly ran towards the harbour, ran along the metal plank connecting the ship to the harbour and slipped inside the entrance, thinking she had been unseen…

"Enlai, find the best boat you can; small but sturdy. We'll rope it to the ship she leaves in and climb aboard when we're far enough out to sea." a voice then whispered, not too far away from the ship's location.

Enlai sighed and jumped over the pebble fence he and his group were hiding behind, trudging off to carry out his order…

"You three… come with me." The captain muttered to the rest of the group; jumping over the pebble fence, soon followed by the two more boisterous ninjas of the group…

Jing, who paused on the spot for a second to give off an indignant look for not being referred to by her name, then gave a small whine and followed the group into the harbour.

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The skies were now almost as orange as raging fire; most of the ships in the docks near North Chung-Ling were now departing, leaving spaces for the next set of trade ships to make port.

Though still keeping her vigilance about her, Ursa had a chance to look around the corridors and take in the surroundings of the ship that was to be her secret stay until they reached Earth Kingdom territory.

It was a strange-looking trade ship, she had to say… Maybe they were a group of collectors? It wouldn't be too unusual… Or maybe even _aristocrats_?

Ursa hid behind a nearby stack of barrels below deck; though the ship had appeared deserted, she had still visibly seen one or two inhabitants pacing every other corridor she had walked down upon entering the deck, corridors such as this one…

When she was sure the man was looking the other way, she swiftly swept up a stairway that led to a room…

The room was lit by six lanterns hanging from the ceiling; illuminating a collection of strange, rare-looking items… most of which Ursa could only guess the real name, let alone _purpose_ of.

Hearing two voices in conversation drawing closer to the room from the opposite doorway, she tried to control a burst of panic and looked around… spotting a desk nearby, she rushed over and found a cut in the wood. Perfect… she ducked down and hid inside. Two men walked in the room; Ursa held her breath, keeping deadly quiet as she listened to their every word.

"_Gaoling?_ How can we do business in _Gaoling_ and get out _alive_?"

"We'll have to…"

The voices were getting louder… she could hear footsteps headed her way. They suddenly stopped…

The larger of the two leant on the desk suddenly, knocking it from the side slightly and pushing Ursa along with it. She could hear and feel her own heart beating as she held her own hands up to her mouth to stifle a gasp…

Luckily, the stifled sound had been drowned out by the creak of the desk as it was pushed; however, she kept her hands to her mouth as she continued to listen, as though she didn't trust her own mouth to stay silent.

"We didn't put our lives on the line when we signed up for this to wuss out…" the smaller of the two men said from a distance.

"Yeah…" the larger muttered.

"Let's get outta here… before we accused of stealing or shit…" the smaller muttered, walking off.

The larger stood to his full height, away from the desk, and followed his companion down the stairway.

Listening out, Ursa bravely leant to the side and caught a glance of the backs of the two departing men.

That tone… that attire… _where_ had she seen that type of attire before…?

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The ship was now about half an hour out to sea, and considerably more crowded now that all its inhabitants had boarded the ship again for its next sail out to sea…

The sky was now navy-coloured and lanterns were being lit by a short, stocky man in preparation for the jet-black, winter night's sky.

"For the _final_ time… _Shu Jing_. We're heading for Shu Jing, to dock off and collect our goods… Maybe open up the Boutique so we can get some trading money…" somebody said to another man who'd asked of their next move.

"Sounds like the captain has a plan…" the man he was talking to replied, pushing a crate to the end of the deck with his foot.

The other man merely groaned and walked off.

Ursa had listened to this short conversation, hiding herself behind an arrangement of barrels and crates… She'd managed to stay incognito so far, but just how long could she really hide herself for…? Perhaps she'd have done herself a favour if she'd been a little less impulsive with her planning; but she couldn't dwell on the past, she had to focus on finding the right hiding place, _now_…

Staying hidden from some of the passing… _sailors_, she quietly moved out from her hiding place and climbed onto the upper level of the ship, taking cover against one of the sails' masts in a shadowy area. This gave her a good view, from above, of the opposite deck…

A man was there… by his lonesome spare some other men stacking crates at the edges of the deck. He wore a black hat and a reptile bird was perched on his shoulder…

Ursa frowned. The attire… the reptile bird…

She looked around, then up as she heard thunder in the sky. This brought her attention to the sails of the mast, her face then fell as she stared up in horror at the red flag present on the mast not too far away from the captain's location. The flag was discernable by the light of the rising moon; which was currently increasing tidal activity and rocking the ship lightly back and forth, as well as providing light to the ever-darkening sky.

"Pirates…" she muttered, eyes wide.

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_**Sorry again that this chapter is later than usual; I've been on holiday and back and then sick and the thought of everything I've got to do before college is only adding to the ill feeling, if I'll be honest…**_

_**Hope you enjoy this chapter, regardless! I'll try and build up the spirit to keep updating somewhat consistently if real life and college don't get too hectic for me.**_

_**If you've checked my profile recently, you'll have seen that Royalty now has its own website (to help me with explaining things I would not, otherwise, be able to explain in the fanfic) and forum. They've just been made, so don't expect anything spectacular, but feel free to drop by the forums and post what you'd like to see!**_

_**I'm not sure when I'll submit the next chapter… hopefully before the end of September, as I'm approaching the fic's one year anniversary on the 31**__**st**__** October.**_

_**Please review!**_

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_**Jing, Chai, Enlai, Zira, Snigurka, Hop, Lo-Kun & the young girl, the captain and Xing Hai all belong to me. **_

_**I do not own Avatar.**_

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	11. Ship Inspection

The thunder was still a fair distance away; but could also still be heard loud and clear across the ocean-covered atmosphere and, perhaps, seen at a distance if one looked hard enough…

A ship floated on the ocean, the occupants preparing themselves for a sea storm; a woman with a square jaw and short, greying hair gripped to a mast rope while gazing ahead with an adamant, rigid expression on her face.

Lightning lit the sky as another female aboard the ship, younger with more delicate features and fear in her eyes, peered out from the shadowy area she was hiding in…

Ursa was stuck… in an approaching thunderstorm at sea around unfamiliar settings with no money and no food… on a pirate ship…

Her idea was one big mess…

Why didn't she just keep the money and pay for transportation _elsewhere_? Just because Hama recognised her as being Princess Ursa, it didn't mean _everyone_ would at first glance!

The rising moon began to disappear, at intervals, behind the gathering black clouds; enveloping Ursa in more darkness, just what she needed for her temporary hiding place…

She would have to run and hide elsewhere, of course; ideally before the storm came… but the question was, when and where?

Ursa jumped out of her skin when one of the pirates climbed up to the deck below the one she was hiding in. Keeping perfectly still and quiet, Ursa heard her own heart beat as she watched the swindler pace the deck, occasionally looking up into the sky to keep an eye on the thunderclouds.

Waves began to lap up against the boat, only rocking it mildly… and yet the sea remained potent, as though coaxing the crew into bracing themselves for the storm…

Yet oddly enough, but fortunately, the sea began to calm itself as the black clouds subsided and the sound of lightning began to fade… the storm was heading in a different direction.

As relief began to overcome the occupants, the ship suddenly gave a violent shake as a bomb struck the side of the deck. This caused uproar about the entire ship and sent everyone flying to the side as the ship began to tip. The captain's reptile bird gave a violent series of shrieks as it tried to keep its master on his feet by the back of his collar.

Ursa began to panic and scrambled forward on all fours in a hurried attempt, in which she barely succeeded, to grip to the mast and save herself from a 50 foot drop into the sea. Others were not so alert to the situation… such as the lantern lighter, who soon plunged into the punishing waters.

Once Ursa was back on her knees, she turned and looked towards the source of the explosion… Smoke was forming, ropes had already been secured to the edges of the deck; and before the pirates could think to cut them, five black-clad figures jumped onto the ship.

Ursa gasped and backed away into the blackest part of the darkness, staying as quiet as she could while she watched the tallest of the five approach the young captain.

The captain removed his black hat; showing off a full head of short, messy brown hair which topped a young face; a youthful face unsuitably marred with prominent worry lines on his forehead and a vertical scar that ran through the right side of his lip.

"Get the _hell_ off of my ship!" the younger man snarled, taking a step forward to display his lack of fear. The reptile bird, perched upon his shoulder, gave a menacing hiss of a caw which seemed to mime his master's current behaviour…

One of the black-clad minions merely sneered at him, while another folded her arms…

"That's it? After we just blew a great chunk out of your ship, you're not even going to ask us what we want? How rude…" the female of the two retorted, though it sounded more like an honest question than a retort…

"You _what_?" a larger, older man directly behind the captain bellowed out.

The captain clenched his fists…

"Don't worry…" the leader stated, stepping forward. "We haven't caused enough damage to sink your ship… We won't make the situation any worse, if you have the manners in you to remain calm and act civil while we search your ship."

At this, the crew of pirates present at the situation all muttered among themselves, most with furrowed brows or angry expressions and the remainder with fear in their eyes for their _own_ treasures, a lot of which were not all made of gold…

Ursa clenched her hands into fists and her eyes widened; as badly as she wanted to jump off the side of the ship, she listened carefully to the conversation between the pirates and the ninjas amidst the footsteps of more pirates flocking out from below deck to crowd around the scene below her and find out what was going on. She knew, sooner or later, that she would have to run and hide; but had taken into account how acting with impulsive haste had wound her up in this situation in the first place… she would wait before she ran; perhaps after she was sure the entire crew was above deck while she hid below, or… _boat_… yes, boat, the ninjas after her must have travelled to the ship _somehow_, it was too far out to sea and the waters were far too turbulent to safely swim in… She then made to quietly turn and look out over her side of the ship.

"N' what are _you_ after, lad? _Gold_?" The large man behind the pirate captain, meanwhile, was interrogating the enemy group with endless questions… The single eye he had, the socket underneath his eyepatch missing the second eyeball, continuously scanning all five of the black-clad intruders.

"Oh no, nothing like that…" the ninja's captain replied reassuringly in the direction of the pirate's captain, as opposed to the man behind him.

To this, one of the ninjas dropped his arms with his eyes wide. The pirate captain, seeing this reaction, frowned.

"_Oh?_ And what, might I ask, be of more value to you on this humble philanderer's ship than gold?" the larger man persisted.

"_Err_, if I may…" the second female ninja, older than the first who had spoken, interrupted her own captain before taking a few steps forward, so she stood at the front of her group, and folded her arms. "Who, exactly, do you think you are? I'm sure your ship's captain can think for himself, _he's a big boy now_."

But just as the ninja captain rolled his eyes and took a step forward to pull the high-strung girl back to her place, the man behind the captain gave a loud, amused burst of laughter. "Who exactly… do I think _I_ am? I cud' ask you, _girl_, tha' same question!"

As Jing was getting ready to charge at the man, the ninja captain grabbed his minion by her arm before throwing her back behind him and muttering, "Stop it, Jing! You're only making a fool of yourself. We need to act calm around these men and _show them that we're better than them_."

Jing responded to this and simply hung back with her arms folded and eyes narrowed, a pout hidden by her veil…

"But… since you _asked_… I'm the chartman o' this ship and the captain's father." The large man said out loud so that the entire ship could hear him, as though broadcasting a reminder. "_Second_ in command." he then added with a grin, a grin displaying dental decay caused by scurvy, and perhaps a great physical conflict or two in the past.

The captain, young and lucky enough to still have a full set of teeth, although not perfect, merely gritted them and rolled his eyes before taking a step forward…

"_What_ do you want?" he stated curtly, impatience indisputable.

The ninja captain wasted no time and immediately held his hand out towards Jing to which she, obstinately, responded by handing a scroll over to her current captain.

"We're looking for this woman…" he unrolled the scroll and held it up. "We witnessed her stowing away on this ship."

Ursa looked back and nearly slipped straight over the edge of the deck, having previously been looking for the ninja's vessel to no avail, and let a small squeak of fright escape her lips while gripping to the side of the deck to steady herself as she threw herself back into the dark corner, creating a small thud as she landed.

The squeak and the thud echoed down to the deck below, making a few turn their heads and frown… including the ninjas and the chartman, who were obviously all sharp of hearing. Ursa looked back round and glanced below, stifling a gasp and backing away instantly when she saw pairs of eyes looking up at her hiding place.

Luckily, it _appeared_ as though nobody had seen her… That reptile bird, however, was probably just _waiting_ for the order to take off into the air and look around… Ursa resisted a slight shudder, however, and continued to listen…

"Never seen 'er before in my life!" the chartman bellowed, ignoring what he and a few others had just heard… "There are narly a hundred people aboard this ship, _someone_ woulda' seen her. We don't want yeh on our ship, now be _gone_ with yeh-!"

"I suggest that you let us search this ship, _chartman_…" the ninja captain interrupted, removing his veil to show a sinister smirk. "Else we change our minds about your treasure…"

There was a widespread pause throughout the entire deck…

"Like I said, look for tha' lass on the scroll, no problem!" the chartman cried out, grinned afterwards and showing his array of missing, black, holey and false teeth.

The ninja captain nodded. "You'll be given a small reward if we _do_ find her…

The pirate captain raised his brow at this and nodded. "We will assign pirates to accompany you on your search…"

But the ninja captain merely grinned "No need… We'll 'assign' your pirates for you."

"_What_?" the captain and his father exclaimed in anger.

As the two sides started to break into an argument, Ursa jumped from the upper deck and crouched upon reaching her landing point to muffle the sound of her 5 foot jump before climbing down the rest of the distance on a rope and running away from the noisy, disputing crowd.

A loud and abrupt firecracker silenced the crowd, spare the reptile bird who gave a vile, inhumane shriek of fright, as Ursa quickly ran below deck; the last words she heard, hollered by the pirate captain, were "Then it's settled! Spread out and find her!"

* * *

Five minutes later, Ursa found herself in an utterly impossible situation. The more time passed, the more pirates she began to see… the more she had to rely on instinct just to keep herself hidden…

If one thing went wrong, she would be spotted… captured, killed? She didn't even know; all the more reason to find a way off this ship as soon as possible, but it wasn't so easy to remain incognito at the same time…

Swiftly dashing out from behind a barrel and past a pirate standing mere feet away from her, looking in the opposite direction with a lantern of fireflies held high to illuminate the dark hallway, Ursa entered an even darker room and quietly closed the door which was previously ajar enough for her to slip through…

A sudden burst of flame illuminated most of the empty room. Ursa took a few quiet steps at first, listening out for a possible ambush, exterior footsteps or even opening doors… satisfied that she was safe, for now, Ursa looked around at the room… it was unfamiliar, and looked like a conference room of sorts. That was about all she was brave enough to take in before spying a broken cupboard, the best-looking hiding place in the room, despite it's filth; not really caring about how dirty the cupboard actually was due to paranoia, Ursa absorbed the fire in her hands and quickly hid herself inside the cupboard mere _seconds_ before one of the three sets of doors opened.

Peering through a small gap in the defaced door, Ursa couldn't see a thing… least of all who exactly entered the room. This only made her heart race faster…

Her eyes widened as she suddenly heard a chuckle nearby. Holding a hand over her own mouth to muffle her heavy breathing, she watched as the stranger lit a candle on the table. Despite the brightness of the candlelight, he was like a complete shadow while illuminated against it…

_A ninja_…

The ninja was poking some sort of strange material one of the pirates had left on the edge of one of the tables.

"Tramps…" he muttered before turning to look inside a cupboard.

Ursa tensed…

"_You should know better than to try and run alone in the dark when facing a ninja, princess…"_

Jing's words echoed in her mind, as though the girl was deliberately trying to delay what little aptitude Ursa had for this kind of situation…

She only had one good idea; even then, she'd have to be lucky for it to work…

He was getting closer.

Ursa braced herself…

* * *

Stupid princess… Stupid pirates… Stupid captain… Stupid _captains_…

Thoughts of everything and everyone involved with this extended _mission_ ran through Enlai's mind as he searched through the foul, filthy cupboards. Every subject of his thoughts had a label… _stupid_.

_What_ exactly did he expect to find in these cupboards? Surely the princess wouldn't have been stupid _enough_ to stay in one place for too long, let alone try and _hide_ on a ship with around 100 people looking for her…?

Just then, his light source disappeared…

"What the-?"

A sound…

Enlai turned just as the door swung open…

"… _Shit_!" he shouted out.

Enlai threw the lantern to the ground, running out of the door as it landed with a smash that echoed throughout the dark room.

There was silence for a couple of seconds…

A small flame ignited from the darkness behind the open door. The figure behind it breathed a quiet sigh of relief…

* * *

"We've searched our entire ship for three hours! She is _not_ here! Get _off_ my ship!"

"Captain, believe me, we _will_ find her eventually." The ninja captain replied. "We're willing to charge you double the price if you will just be a little more _patient_."

Upon hearing that, the pirate captain's frown disappeared. Nonetheless, he gave an impatient growl.

The square-jawed woman from earlier on slid down the same rope attached to the mast and approached the ninja captain.

"She's escaped."

The was a pause… Until both captains spoke out, that is; "_What_?"

"Your boat is gone…" she said blankly, standing straight and folding her arms.

"_Duh_!" the youngest girl aboard the ship shouted out, as though the elder woman was stupid. "That's because we left it inside that hole." Approaching the side of the deck, she jumped over it… returning, from a set of stairs below deck, a few minutes later… her face was white and her eyes were wide.

"_What_? But… _how_?"

The elder woman merely shrugged.

The girl turned to the ninja captain. "What'll we _do_-?"

The pirate captain, although slightly disgruntled by this news, sighed, "If you leave us be, we'll lend you one of our lifeboats… actually, lend isn't the right word… we'll _give_ you one of our lifeboats. Thieves don't exactly _borrow_."

"Yeah, you'd know a lot about _that_-!"

The ninja captain put a hand on Miyuki's shoulder and shook his head, turning to the pirate captain… "Thank you." He muttered, though the word really carried no meaning.

And with that, he walked off with the other black-clad minion to find and assemble the three remaining ninjas.

Completely exhausted, Ursa listened out from the same hiding spot she had left over three hours ago and returned to soon before the pirates had all gotten bored of looking for her.

She was frowning in disbelief…

* * *

"Do _not_ tell anyone else about this girl. Keep it to _yourselves_. Understand?"

"Yeah, yeah, if you _get off my damn ship_!"

And with that, the ninjas departed…

A voice could still be heard when the ninjas had gained some distance from the pirate's ship… "On a sunny day in the big blue sea-!"

"_What _did I say about singing, Miyuki?" Jing yelled out; even Ursa heard all of this loud and clear and couldn't help but roll her eyes.

The pirate captain merely shook his head with a groan of annoyance.

"_Well_, if I ain't glad to see those dirty, miserable landlubbers leavin'!" the chartman exclaimed.

The captain frowned and folded his arms. "Who _exactly_ were they looking for, anyway…?"

"Who cares?"

The woman with greying hair walked over and stared out at the departing ninjas, stretching languidly and leaning over the deck.

"_Shut up!_" echoed from afar.

"Enlai, that was _mean_!" another male voice echoed.

Somehow, they thought they could all visibly _see_ the ninja captain shaking his head…

The chartman grinned as he looked over at the woman standing by his side. "Shouldn' yeh' be sleepin' at a time like this, Rosa?"

He obviously didn't get the reaction he was after… the woman turned to him wearing a scowl. "Just because I'm _ageing_, it doesn't mean I'm getting _weaker_." Rosa said venomously before turning and walking away.

The chartman frowned. "Hey, wai', I never men'-!"

But she was already halfway up the mast by the time he had turned around…

"… Women…" he muttered with a laugh, stretching his arms towards the sky he gave a great yawn… pausing mid-yawn, when his trained eye picked up a silhouette in the shadows on the upper deck.

Not giving away the fact that he had seen the figure, he lowered his arms and turned towards the captain, whispering; "I think we got a spy, lad…"

"…_What_?" the captain exclaimed, turning his head towards the shadows.

"Ssh!" the chartman grabbed his son under the jawbone and turned his head back to where it once was roughly and quickly. "Send Hawkins up there…"

The chartman pointed to the reptile bird that, since the aftermath of the crash, had landed after two hours of scouting the air and had fallen asleep on the young captain's shoulder for the night.

"_Hawkins_!" the captain shouted, shoving the bird off his shoulder. The reptile bird gave an indignant squawk at the rude awakening, but flied up to the shadowy corner nonetheless…

* * *

Ursa, oblivious to the fact that she had been spotted, had abandoned vigilance to watch the ninjas leave with a small smile on her face. A smile soon erased when the reptile bird flew up to her hiding place and hovered in the air mere _inches_ away from her face…

The bird gave a loud, obnoxious caw in her direction. Ursa's eyes widened…

"_NO_! Bad bird, bad bird! Shoo! Go away!"

In reply to this, the reptile bird simply snapped at her using its sharp break, ignoring every other word she said.

Holding an arm up to her face, Ursa fell back with a squeak… she got back up and, from either bravery or stupidity, tried again…

"_Go away_!" she hissed. "I order you!"

Just then, Ursa fell back again… This time, it was because she had been roughly grabbed by a large pirate who had suddenly appeared behind her.

"_Oh_, don't think I've seen _you_ before, spy!" he said, grinning maliciously. Dragging Ursa towards the edge of the upper deck, he turned her around to face him before she even got the chance to peer down at the deck below…

"Let me _go_!" Ursa snarled at him; but it was too late for her to fight before the man pushed her over the edge using the fat hands he had previously used to restrain her.

"Bye, love!" he sneered at her sadistically, waving a hand in the air as Ursa fell towards the deck below back-first.

Ursa screamed as she fell, not even _daring_ to try and look down while praying that she would survive this fall…

Seconds later, she felt herself being manhandled by countless pairs of hands and arms which took her to the lower deck and forced her kneeling to the floor with her arms behind her back. She felt a shadow fall over her amidst the commotion and looked up.

The captain looked down at her; his eyes widened after taking a good look at her face… "It's her! That girl the ninjas were looking for!"

This silenced the rowdy crowd of pirates to immobility…

Seeing her chance, and in pure desperation, Ursa kicked an arc of fire in the captain's direction with a growl; this shocked the men restraining her into throwing the exiled princess forward and hastily backing away.

Ursa quickly scurried to her feet and sprinted across the deck.

"Don't let er' get away! She may be worth more n'all o' yer' put tergether!" the chartman cried out as Ursa managed to avoid three other pirates she passed and run below deck.

* * *

_**Sorry this chapter took so damn long, college has been a nightmare. A nightmare to the point where I have considered quitting Royalty, and actually did for a few weeks. But after some consideration, I've decided to come back and continue it because I've been getting withdrawal symptoms.**_

_**I'm… really not sure what to make of this chapter; it's so short, and half of it was written under 24 hours after being sedated at the dentists. I may actually come back and add more text or alternate things when I'm feeling less trippy. heh Regardless, I'm surprised I'm submitting anything at all today, so at least it's something.**_

_**Hope you like it!**_

* * *

_**All characters, except for Ursa, belong to me.**_

_**I do not own Avatar.**_


	12. Having The Upper Hand

The sound of her own, rasp breath as she ran through the deserted hallway bounced from wall to wall and created an eerie echo which, Ursa worried, would draw attention to her location… the _last_ thing she wanted was for the boisterous collection of voices above her to become audibly louder and louder until she found herself surrounded by pirates.

Ironically, as the thought came to mind, she heard loud footsteps from both sides of the hallway and as the vibration of feet rushing down the stairs disturbed the atmosphere, she began to panic…

Looking frantically around with a spin in every step, Ursa only heard a bellow of "There she is!" and a repeating thump as pirates began to pile up on the place she had previously been standing while running through a dark hallway to her left.

All of a sudden, she screamed and tripped; grabbing the nearest object her adjusting vision could make out just as she collided with the floor and kicking whomever had grabbed her _hard_ in what she guessed was their face, Ursa threw the object at the mystery enemy, ran full-speed upon hearing the sound of breaking pottery and turned a corner…

A figure emerged from the darkness, growling and clutching to a broken nose. "Tha' way, she wen' thab' way!" he cried out, putting emphasis on his actions as he pointed to his right-hand side.

* * *

"Can't you _hurry up_?" the captain yelled from the ship's wheel to nobody in particular, his grip almost threatening to break the handle he was holding clean off the large, circular wooden structure in splinters.

"Easier said th'n' done, lad…" the chartman mused out loud, effortlessly unscrewing the cork of a bottle and downing half it's contents in one go. "O'ever she is… lass don't wanna be found."

His son's hands hit the wheel. "Shouldn't imagine the bitch _does_, what's your point?"

The captain's father gave a drunken groan and swallowed another mouthful of the beverage in hand. "She's _dangerous_. The crew's hesitatin'; they're _afraid_, Lucifer. Quite right, too; a firebender ain't anyone to take lightly nowadays, lad…"

"Firebender or not, she's _worth something_. Those idiots offered a fair sum for her, just _imagine_ what she'd be worth if we haggled a little more, maybe even with another _party_!" the captain held a hand up; though he was furious there-and-then, there was a twinkle in his eye that suggested otherwise on the whole…

The chartman merely sighed, "Lad-"

"Besides…" the captain muttered, steering the wheel forty degrees to his left. "If she is _dangerous_, that's all the more reason to keep her locked up."

He looked over to his father, "They've got ten minutes… I want that woman here _alive_."

* * *

Ursa quietly shut the door to the conference room and took light, careful steps into the black abyss; using memory and her senses, she guided herself to a hiding spot, not wanting to light her way in case one or more of the doors suddenly burst open and her fire gave her away…

She listened out… the rushing footsteps of a group of pirates was all she heard after a couple of minutes of silence. That is until Ursa leant back and disturbed a sleeping pirate behind her; his snort scared her into yelling after jumping out of her skin, giving her location away to the group outside…

"What the-?" the once-sleeping pirate exclaimed as the door to his end and Ursa's left burst open.

Ursa wasted no time in getting out of the large room as soon as possible… just as the double doors burst open, she was already running through the set of doors the rudely-awoken pirate was facing.

"_Hey_!" was all she heard before taking a left turn and heading towards the stairs that led to the middle deck.

* * *

"I don't see a lot of _searching_ going on, you lazy swabs!"

A woman with short, greying hair was bellowing harsh orders to her shipmates _seconds_ after hearing their deadline…

But not everyone would have it… "Rosa, you 'ave _no_ right ter'-!"

"Chartman's orders! Or are you forgetting that you're talking to his _first mate_? The captain put him in charge of this whole sordid affair! And I don't see a lot of possible areas being searched! _Oh_, and _I've_ had to _send_ pirates to guard the _lifeboats_, _for_ _Agni's sake_! If you've no luck finding that girl, start stationing ya'selves at all the possible escape routes! You've got _under ten minutes_ to find her! _Move, move, move_!"

And with that, she hastily climbed towards the upper deck…

* * *

'Lifeboat, lifeboat, _please_ have a lifeboat.'

This was all that ran through Ursa's mind, in repetition, as she ran through the hallway of an interior hut in the upper deck that was thankfully, yet strangely, deserted…

She skidded slightly while trying to stop herself upon a quick glance into a room; grabbing the frame of the doorway, she grinned and alternated the direction she was heading in, entering the room… the lifeboats were there, nobody was around; _but_ something didn't feel right…

Before she knew it, Ursa was on the floor with a torn, pungent-smelling sheet wrapped around her entire body; she heard the door shut amidst her struggling and just when she thought she had been caught, bless the fools, they removed the _fireproof_ sheet from her and the face of a grinning pirate appeared, ready with a handful of soaked cloth meant for either her nose or her mouth. She wasn't going to stay and find out…

Spinning on the spot, Ursa drew fire from her hands and feet in a successful attempt to scare the philanderers back a few feet using a circle of flame. Charging at the door, which the dim-witted group had left unlocked, Ursa dodged and struck fire at several more pirates that came her way, losing them all by weaving in and out of different hallways, entering rooms, taking shortcuts, turning corners… _anything_ she could think of at the time.

Five minutes later, Ursa was running across the lower deck and jumping onto the railing of one side of the edge of the deck, solemnly considering jumping into the sea…

The water below was as harsh as it had been hours ago; the man who lit the lanterns earlier on had not been seen since he was dumped into the raging sea by the disturbed ship… No, no best not… It was cold enough _on_ the ship, as it was…

As she turned, Ursa's wrists were covered by hands much larger than her own… she gave a sudden gasp and looked up, meeting the face of the hand's owner. Compared to him, they seemed _freakishly_ huge, almost to the extent where the man was obviously deformed.

"Ello' darlin'…" he muttered in a sly, creepy voice.

As he pulled Ursa to the deck floor with one hand, she quickly grabbed a dagger hanging from the pirate's belt with her free hand and upon collision with the ground, soon sprang back onto her feet and stuck the dagger against the man's chest.

But… he merely looked down upon his stolen weapon and cackled.

Ursa was taken-aback…

"You think this is _funny_? I have you overpowered!"

Though Ursa's nervous tone betrayed her, she stubbornly stood her ground nonetheless.

The pirate finished up his bout of laugher before gracing the exiled princess with a reply… "Actually…" he then raised two arms, reaching out behind his back and unsheathing a pair of dual swords which soon found themselves held against Ursa's neck. "_I_ have _you_ overpowered, girlie."

Eyes widening, Ursa looked over the swords as the man encircled her… the surprisingly clean, sharp blades and the shine that accompanied them as the metal reflected the flames of the nearby lanterns, the… _wooden_ handles?

The pirate grinned upon seeing Ursa tracing the sword with her eyes, wide and filled with fear. He stopped as soon as he was standing right behind her. "Come quietly… and we won' 'urt you… _much_."

Ursa looked up…the swords were _far_ too close to her neck for her to try the idea that had formulated in her mind… _just_ yet, anyway.

"Fine…" she muttered bitterly, looking to the side and down at one of her waiting hands…

The pirate kept his grin and chuckled…

_Great_! The big oaf lowered his swords, though slowly… she'd have to be quick, or her plan could backfire…

"Don't try anything stupid…" the pirate muttered, keeping his swords low, but still fairly close to her neck. The swords wouldn't unintentionally pierce her neck at this distance… if they wanted to kill her, they would have attempted to _long_ ago.

Before the pirate could even react on what he was about to do next, Ursa made her move…

His scream pierced the empty sky as Ursa lit the wooden handles to his swords on fire, in turn quickly setting the man's hands on fire. The flames were travelling along his arms, and fast. Dropping the swords, he half-fell, half-jumped over the deck and into the sea.

Ursa, gripping to the rails, forced herself upright and bent down to carefully pick up the burning swords. Absorbing the fire into her hands and breathing it out through her nostrils in an attempt to relieve herself of some of the chill of the winter night, she looked around…

She was tired, cold and hungry, but not about to give up.

She began walking again… Aiming for that room below deck where the lifeboats were kept, seeing if she could try her luck again…

But it was quiet…

Too quiet…

'When men are quiet… they're definitely up to something…' Ursa thought to herself, taking slow steps while looking around…

When suddenly…

"Congrats ter' yeh' for making it this far!"

Ursa frowned and looked towards the direction that the voice had spoken from… or at least, where she _thought_ it had come from… It had created an echo around the barren atmosphere that made it impossible to tell.

She recognised the voice, however… it was the captain's father's voice. Loud, proud and uncouth… She gripped to the dual swords. Though she didn't know how to use them, they were _something_.

The lights were going out… Ursa looked around as the last set of lights were extinguished and saw a small shadow with wings fly back into the darkness…

The pirates were obviously there…

Ursa headed in a different direction, running through the 'lightest' area she could see.

When suddenly… she was grabbed and dragged into the enveloping darkness, the dual swords were soon stolen from her and tossed aside. Ursa felt herself being held down, flat on the floor, as something cold and wet was pressed against her face.

Her muffled screaming soon died down, as did the fire she had attempted to make in her hands, as the substance she inhaled rendered her unconscious within moments.

* * *

"Get up."

Her head was swimming… Her body was awake, but her brain seemed to be refusing to rouse.

"Get. Up."

The harsh tone, unwelcoming as it was, did the trick.

Ursa sat up and curled up, clutching to her forehead. Her vision hadn't quite adjusted and her head was pounding. Memories of the last hour or so were so… fuzzy. It pained her to try and remember them, so she just gave up.

"Pathetic…" the same, unfriendly voice muttered.

Her vision adjusted; not that it helped much, her surroundings contained no speck of light spare the lantern of fireflies the owner of that horrible voice was holding up. The fireflies illuminated an ageing woman with a square jaw and an expression of distaste… which soon turned to curiosity. Ursa frowned back at her.

"What's your name?" Rosa muttered, her brow furrowing…

There was a pause… Ursa tilted her head. "_Wha_-?"

"Your _name_, firebender." Rosa repeated, slowly and clearly.

What an odd request…

"Ur-M-Meilin…" Ursa muttered

Rosa only chuckled. "Liar."

Another pause…

"I'm _telling_ the _tru_-"

"I knew a Meilin, actually… Not personally, heard stories about how she ran off to marry some earthbender, which kind of put a dent in the family tradition… all firebenders…" Rosa's brow furrowed again and she scratched her chin thoughtfully while looking at Ursa, who was now wide-awake…

"Mhm…" Rosa nodded.

Leaning against the wall and folding her arms, the elder woman tried again… "_What_, is your name?"

Ursa then glared up at her, seeming to just remember that she was a pirate. "Give me one good reason why I should tell you."

Rosa merely sighed. "Because… You look _so_ much like my friend…"

The word seemed to roll from her lips in slow motion… "Anastasia."

_What_?

"Just tell me your name." Rosa repeated, sounding more impatient this time.

Ursa just kept her glare and stood to her feet, supporting herself on the dark, narrow walls of the enclosed space the pirates had stuffed her in. "And _why_ should I trust _you_?"

Rosa just groaned. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? I _tried_ to save your life by sending the ninja's boat out to sea, but apparently my crew wouldn't settle at that!"

"My hero…" Ursa muttered bitterly, half-sitting half-falling down into a corner and folding her arms.

"You're being ridiculous!" Rosa was shouting now. Calming herself with a deep breath, she then sighed and continued… "Listen, if I know you are who are, maybe I can find a way to get you out of this cell."

Cell? Fantastic… And Ursa really didn't like the sound of that "_maybe_"…

"And why should _who I might be_ determine whether I have a right to freedom or not?" Ursa retorted viciously.

Rosa sighed again. "Look, it doesn't! It's just… I have… sources."

"Oh, _sources_! I'm sorry I ever doubted you!"

"For fuck's sake, you're just as stubborn as she was!"

"Get out of my cell."

"Stop being so immature, I'm trying to help!"

"I don't _want_ your-!"

Ursa had to stop herself there… Yes, of _course_ she wanted help, but she couldn't trust anyone anymore… She could just as easily be a spy of Xing Hai's as she was a "friend".

"I'm your only chance." Rosa said, stepping forwards. "If they don't hand you over to those freaks for Agni-knows-_what_, those pirates will leave you to _starve_ in here if they don't get their pay quickly, or they'll just sell you off as a sex slave, or even _use_ you as a sex slave. Believe me, I've been working in this 'profession' long enough to have seen all this happen. I know how their minds work."

"… That's disgusting." Ursa said in a monotone, scrunching her nose.

"That's life." Rosa said bluntly. "Look, if it helps to ward off some suspicion, my name is Rosa. Now, if you won't tell me yours, I'll just have to go ahead and _guess it_."

Rosa… the name rang a bell, actually.

The woman did remind Ursa a lot of her sister, also… Rude, irksome, hardheaded… Could it be true…?

Ursa sighed. "My name is Ursa… I'm Anastasia's sister."

For the first time, Rosa's eyes widened and a smile spread across her face.

"Her baby sis? I remember you! She thought the _world_ of you! Didn't really like to show it, though, she was jealous of you or some nonsense… But anyway, I haven't seen you all since the day you left Ember Island! How is the family?"

As if Ursa could've felt awkward enough already! After just staring at the _usually_ stern, elder woman in disbelief, Ursa then looked away upon hearing the last question wearing a frown.

Which, in turn, made Rosa frown… "… C'mon, tell me…"

"Dead…" Ursa muttered quietly.

"… _What_?" Rosa thought she must have misheard… _Surely_ she didn't say…?

"Anastasia… has been missing in action for twenty years. So has my father. My mother was murdered by the same man I think those ninjas are working for."

Rosa stared at her in shock. "No…"

Ursa looked up at Rosa. The woman did _not_ look like the type to cry, but Ursa saw her glassy, gold eyes almost betray that appearance.

"I haven't seen her for over twenty years and… No…" Rosa just looked down and shook her head. "It must have been horrible for you."

Ursa sighed. "I had no choice but to accept it all and move on…"

There was a pause…

Rosa looked back up and into Ursa's face… those features… she saw so much of her dear, departed friend in the younger woman. Putting a hand on her shoulder and adopting her usual, stern expression again, she solemnly swore: "I'll get you out of here, I promise. I can't guarantee it'll be soon, but I'm not going to let my crew hurt you. Not while I have anything to say about it…"

Rosa was a strong-willed woman. The few people she ever cared for meant the world to her. Male and female, young and old… If she could do _anything_ worthwhile for Anastasia, wherever she was, this would be it…

Removing the hand from her shoulder, Rosa then pointed at Ursa and said sternly "Just keep our little 'friendship' between _you and me_, or we might _both_ get into deep shit. Understand?"

Ursa nodded obediently with a frown.

"_Do you_?" Rosa asked, sounding even more astringent than Ursa had ever heard before, or even thought _possible…_

"Yes, yes! My lips are sealed." Ursa said sincerely. _Why_ would she think to ruin her chance of escape?

"Good." Rosa said, nodding.

Ursa _really_ wasn't sure what to think… Could she trust this woman? Or was she just, metaphorically, another Hama? What if she found just _one_ wrong thing out about the puzzling princess? Like the blood on her hands, perhaps…?

Rosa frowned upon hearing footsteps and started speaking again in a rushed whisper. "Right, I'll come visit every morning. I've been told I have to stand guard, anyway… Just don't try to escape on your own; it'll only backfire now that we're way out to sea. Eat the food they give you; it'll look gross at first, but you _have_ keep your strength up… It's not an option; firebenders don't do well inside dark cells. Don't abuse the privileges they _do_ give you, or you'll find yourself stuck with the perverts during bathroom breaks. Just… behave yourself, okay?"

* * *

Oh, and behave herself she did…

Later that day, Ursa heard the door open and shut as quickly as it took for her to look up and see a plate of food on the floor and a face peering through the tiny barred window.

"Enjoy." The face muttered, but just as he turned ready to walk away…

"Your hospitality is disgusting… The cell is far too small, dank, dark, unhygienic, I could go on, and my only source of light is constantly getting blocked by drunk philanderers." Ursa complained in a snide, acrid tone from where she was sitting.

"Well, I wouldn't worry about that, _milady_." A soft, yet pungently opulent voice replied. "You won't be stuck in there forever."

To this, Ursa only gave a bitter laugh. "Are you going to make me walk the plank?"

"We only use the plank for enemies." He replied, sounding impatient.

"What do you consider me, then?"

"We like to call people like you… hostages."

Ursa inspected the food… "Give me something decent to eat. If I die of starvation, your ninja friends might not pay you."

"I've just given you food, covetous _wretch_…" the pirate growled.

"I emphasise the word _decent_." Ursa said, shoving the mould-covered plate to the door with her foot as though it was infectious.

The aggravating raider peered down at the food through the bars. "What's _wrong_ with it?" he asked as though he'd cooked it himself, glaring at her.

Ursa did nothing except fold her arms and utter unmentionable words to do with pirates and their lack of hygiene.

The pirate who had "served her dinner", hearing this, grunted and turned his back on her. "Fine, act like a child and I will _treat_ you like a child. Eat what you're given or go hungry!"

And with that, he left…

_Finally_.

Although it wasn't in her best interests to act reprehensible around her captors, Ursa found the tendency getting the better of her through tedium that built up with every minute she spent confined to this… _box_. She felt like a disobedient child thinking they had been wrongly punished, trying to get back at the 'grown-ups' by being as rude and as ungrateful as possible. Though she tried to hold it back with every other pirate, that particular one bothered her the most of them all…

He always seemed to be there, just _what_ did he want from her?

* * *

**_A treat for you all; since it took me about 3 months to update the last chapter, it's taken me 5 days to update this one. haha_**

**_Basically, I was _not_ ready for Monday... I did work for English because it was timetabled and I had two speeches, but the rest of my time was either spent handwriting four pages of this chapter, talking with friends outside of Tescos or avoiding torrential rain (easier said than done, I think we're going to get a flood eventually...). That's my excuse for not working on my BTEC unit. I plan on making up for it for the rest of the week, so don't expect Chapter 13 until the end of the month._**

**_Thanks for the reviews, I'll reply asap!_**

_**Hope you like it!**_

* * *

_**All characters, except for Ursa, belong to me.**_

_**I do not own Avatar.**_


	13. Swindled

A small girl, around 6 years of age, was standing on the rails at the edge of a ship, hands gripped to the top rail as she looked out into the horizon. Her raven hair, which had only been trimmed a few times since birth, swayed in the strong, yet calm summer wind. Her homeland, now barely visible and bordering the distance, began to fade away…

Though a little too young to understand the circumstances surrounding their sudden leave, the young girl felt curious nonetheless… She had tried to ask for an answer from both her mother and father, but only got an unsatisfactory "We'll tell you when you're older…" back…

She wanted to know _now_. She had woken up to and walked in on her mother crying the previous night, with curiosity and uncertainty enticing her to go and investigate. Only for her father to rush her back to bed on sight and sternly assure her that _"everything's _fine_, now go back to sleep_!_"_

It was so unfair…

"Hey, you wanna become tigershark food?" a familiar voice shouted out from the other side of the deck.

As the girl turned, rushing footsteps from the feet of an adolescent, well-built figure drew closer to her and she found herself being roughly tugged backwards by the back of her dress and pulled down to the deck floor…

"What the hell were you doing? You could've fallen off and _died_, and I'm meant to be _watching you_ while we're on here and everyone else is asleep!" the adolescent protested to her. "I'm not getting into trouble because of _your_ suicidal habits!"

The younger girl only shrugged. "I only wanted to look back at home one last time…" Though she didn't know where they were _going_, her elder sister had leaked that _"we'll be gone for a long time"_ to her…

"Jeez, can't you do that from _your level_? You're so puny; being up at that height _can't_ be comfortable…" her older sister said, the younger sister only shrugged again.

The elder groaned, "Whatever, I give up… You're gonna grow up to be just like dad…"

The younger of the two frowned, "You mean… I'll get a _beard_?"

The elder groaned again, "Yeah, a nice long beard to go with that hogmonkey tail…" and sighed. "Why is nobody in my family normal?"

The 6-year-old felt her face, then the place where she thought her 'tail' should be, totally perplexed… Seeing her older sister walk off, she followed along like a lost puppy. "Annie, where are we going?"

"Ursa, how many times? _I don't know._ Neither do mom and dad; believe me, I've checked… We need to get _away_ from the Fire Nation, though." Annie said, quickly changing the subject. "Damn it, I'm starving…"

But Ursa persisted. "Who was that man I remember?"

"You don't wanna know…" Anastasia stated simply, walking off in pursuit of some food.

But Ursa _did_, and her pursuit of the truth was something that she could only _wish_ she was, once again, blissfully ignorant to later on in life… She kept following her sister.

"I'll tell you one thing, though…" her older sister stated after a long pause, entering the galley.

Ursa listened intently, waiting for Anastasia to continue as she raided one of the storage cupboards.

"He isn't right… He has this…_ theory_ in his mind that he's built up on because he couldn't get any…" Anastasia sat down with a selection of spreads and a bowl of rice balls. As Ursa climbed onto a chair, Anastasia handed her a tin with "DO NOT TOUCH (this means you, RAT)" written in ink and in big, bold letters all around it. "Have them, I've lost whatever appetite I used to have for 'em."

Obviously knowing what was in the tin, Ursa's face seemed to light up, "Thanks!"

Bringing the tin closer, Ursa then frowned and peered around the tin cylinder and at her older sister. "He didn't get any _what_…?"

Annie stopped spreading… "Errr… _Brains_, Bear, brains…"

Ursa just looked even more confused. "So… he's a _zombie_?" she exclaimed, eyes wide.

Anastasia just laughed, "_No_. Look, that's all I'm going to tell you, might as well make the most of that info… and _don't_ tell mom or dad what I told you or… I'll think of something horrible. Like, taking those pixie sticks back!" she finished, glaring.

Instantly grabbing the large tin and hugging it protectively, Ursa quickly promised, "Okay, I won't! I won't!"

"Good…" Anastasia stated, smirking.

Suddenly, the ship gave a violent jolt, knocking the two sisters out of their seats and onto the floor.

Everything went black…

And was _still_ black upon Ursa's sudden awakening… Sitting up with a frown, just over two decades after the event that she had dreamt about, Ursa looked around and suddenly remembered where she was. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw a pair of feet… they were _not_ her sister's old friend Rosa's that was for sure… She had been stuck in this cell for a week now, she had picked up all the possible signs of trouble, and the fact that a _man_ was inside her cell set off an internal alarm bell in her mind…

She backed away. "Get out…" she ordered, though her voice sounded far too weak to be at all imperative…

The man didn't reply… They hadn't been feeding Ursa well enough to give her any _real_ strength to be able to firebend properly, as such her usually shining gold eyes had become dull and dilate. Weak, cold, noticeably thinner and stiff from a lack of movement, she was vulnerable and afraid.

Suddenly, she heard a voice she recognised… sly and creepy, with a hint of what sounded like _amusement_ at her current state. "We've docked for a lil' while. Good ter' see yeh awake, was worried you'd wasted away, 'n we wouldn' want _that_ now would we?"

Ursa looked up, coughing. "Speaking of which… How are _you_ still alive?"

The pirate only shrugged, "Lucky? I swam 'o course." And drew a lantern of fireflies from behind his back and placed it on the floor.

"What are you _doing_ in here? If you filthy thieves are going to confine me to this hole for Agni-knows how long, at least respect my personal space!" Ursa exclaimed, now backing up against the wall.

"_Nothing_, love, nothin' … Just _revenge_." The creep held his arms and hands up high, showing that they had been wrapped thick in bandages. "You've left your mark on me, now I'm going to do the same to you…"

He knelt down and drew both swords…

"No… No!" Ursa cried out in a weak voice, panic creeping into her expression.

The pirate merely cooed at this. You're sorry now, huh? Well, that's just too _bad_… I'll make it quick, so just _relax_…" he _stroked_ her _leg_ "there's a good girl-_OH_!" As the shameless philanderer approached, Ursa had kicked him hard in the groin and stood up, running to the door.

"_Don't touch me_! _Get out_!" she cried out ecstatically.

The pirate also stood up, clutching to his sore crotch with a scowl on his face. Seconds later, he charged at Ursa and as she ducked down, he grabbed her wrists and brought her back up again, pinning her against the door.

As Ursa summoned up all the strength she could muster to scream, the door opened and she fell hard on her back; the pirate fell on top of her and looked up, meeting the furious face of a certain first-mate.

"What are you doing?" she yelled at the pirate, grabbing him by his collar and yanking him away from Ursa, throwing him to the side.

The pirate quickly got to his feet and exclaimed, "I was _jus'_-!"

"Do _not _assault our prisoner, you _idiot_! Do you want us to get gold or don't you?" Ursa heard that familiar voice yell.

At first, she was too shocked to realise that freedom was only a short sprint away… Upon realisation, Ursa gasped and quickly scrambled to her feet and stumbled along the corridor, almost tripping before turning a corner. She didn't care about Rosa's orders, or about the fact that she was previously standing a few feet away from her, or that she could barely walk, she had to try…

"_Get back here!_" that same voice yelled, running after her. Weakened by a lack of exposure to sunlight, lack of food and a lack of movement, it was easy for Rosa to catch up to Ursa. Grabbing her by the arm, Rosa walked back around the corner and towards the cell. The pirate had disappeared… fled at the first chance he got, Ursa guessed.

"I'll deal with him later…" Rosa muttered, more to herself than to Ursa. Walking into the cell again and shutting the door, she sat Ursa down carefully, afraid that the younger woman would collapse with even just a _little_ push. She'd already had a misshapen pirate on top of her; Agni only knew what else had to happen to break a bone.

"Just _what_ did I tell you about trying to escape on your own?" Rosa whispered viciously, as though they were being overheard.

Ursa was ready to argue for her freedom… "This is the _perfect_ opportunity-!"

"_No_, it isn't… just because we've docked, it doesn't automatically mean you're safe to escape, there are still pirates on this ship and you can barely _move_. Anyway, do you even _know_ where we are? The _Seedy Merchant's Pier_, Ursa! Going out there, without your firebending, surrounded by pirates from this ship _and others_, and illegal traders, and going in a _tattered dress_ nonetheless is a fucking stupid move, okay?"

"I don't plan on getting caught!" Ursa protested.

"_Ssh_! For Agni's sake… You didn't want to get caught two weeks ago, either; _that_ backfired. We're not going to run out of men, dark places to strike and chloroform just because we're a little spread out right now."

Ursa couldn't believe this… she'd had enough.

"How do I know I can trust you, _anyway_? You might just be leading me into a false sense of security for all I know!" Ursa retorted.

"We've already been _through this_!" Rosa groaned, massaging her temples as Ursa suddenly collapsed into a sobbing heap. "Look-"

"You saw him! You know what he was going to do to me" I am in _no mood_ to depend on you for my own safety, I barely even _know_ you!"

"Ursa, _please_-!"

"I just want to go home! But I have no choice in the matter, and I hate it out here! I thought I'd cope, I _tried_ to cope, but, but…" trailing off, she could only wail and let go of her bursting emotions through her weeping.

Rosa just sighed. "You've been going through a hard time, huh?" She took a paper bag out of a rucksack she had brought with her and handed it over to the distraught younger woman.

"Here, get your strength back…"

Ursa took her hands away from her face and took the bag. "Thank you…" she muttered tearfully, taking a dumpling from it and gnawing on it.

After Ursa had composed herself and quelled her hunger, she wiped her tears from her face and turned to Rosa, asking her the question she had been burning to ask the elder woman all day… "Do you actually have a plan, Rosa?"

To her great surprise, Rosa actually _nodded_, "I do, don't worry, I do… Just don't give up, be patient."

* * *

And so, Ursa remained patient… a week passed, the ship had docked in Gaoling to "_take care of some business_"; Rosa _still_ wouldn't let Ursa leave the ship, just _what_ was the woman planning?

Curled up with her hands wrapped around her legs and her back against the wall, Ursa was humming an old lullaby she used to sing to her children when Rosa entered her cell again with a bowl of jook and a plate of chickenpig meat. Ursa, not knowing of the Earth Kingdom dish, frowned at the sloppy contents and looked towards Rosa for an explanation.

Rosa looked back after taking a small flask and frowned back at the picky princess. "It's _jook_… Basically just liquid rice, it won't kill you."

Ursa looked back at the bowl, shrugged and drank the jook straight from the bowl; lowering it a second or two later with a frown.

"Cold…" she muttered. Before she had the chance to use up some of her energy heating it, Rosa snatched the bowl from her and a small burst of flame from her hands appeared after a few second of concentrations, disappearing soon afterwards…

Ursa's eyes widened just before another flame was ignited. "You're a firebender? Why did you never-?"

Rosa interrupted her with a small laugh, "I wish…" another flame appeared, this one flickered before it died. "I don't have full control over fire, not like you."

"I don't have full control, Rosa" Ursa stated modestly. "I fake confidence… I stopped learning over a decade ago, I only recently started firebender again for my own protection."

Rosa held the jook out to Ursa, "Careful, it's hot…" and when Ursa took the bowl and said her thanks, Rosa sighed. "Well, compared to you, I'm crap at firebending. You have potential… don't waste it."

Ursa frowned. "Why are you criticizing yourself like that?"

"It's not criticism, it's fact…" Rosa said bluntly, opening the flask. "The 'academy' I went to in my heyday had this issue with stereotyping… they wouldn't let girls firebend, at all, _ever_. I asked a lover to teach me once; he gave up. I _wanted_ to learn, but I got over it when it became obvious that I just wasn't 'made' to learn firebending. I turned to other things… gymnastics, climbing, fencing, things I could realistically commit myself to and make use of. So, don't feel sorry for me. Just being able to heat stuff on-the-go has its uses." Rosa finished, stretching.

"Well, okay…" Ursa conceded, drawing the plate of meat closer with her free hand, putting the empty bowl to one side with her other hand. "Anastasia was the same way…"

Rosa shook her head. "Anastasia could firebend pretty well, hence why she was in the army…"

Ursa then nodded. "That's right…" She then busied herself with separating the chickenpig from its bone while she talked. "But she never wanted to take it further than our father had tried to teach her, she was more interested in hand-to-hand combat."

"And boys…" Rosa added, smiling as she drank from the flask.

"That too." Ursa replied with a laugh, also smiling.

"Rosa? _Rosa_? Captain wants to see you!" a voice suddenly called from outside, making both women jump.

The older woman relaxed and sighed. "_Right_…" she droned back, rolling her eyes and standing to her feet, exiting the cell without another word and leaving Ursa alone again…

* * *

"You wanted to see me?" Rosa said upon reaching the captain, showing little care for her bored tone-of-voice.

"Yes… Rosa; Hawkins was just injured by your wretched messenger hawk." The captain said, folding his arms. "I want to know why… the bird shouldn't really be out of your room without your supervision. Unless… you've been sending and receiving messages, that is?" he inquired, raising his brow.

Rosa looked to the chartman with a frown at the inquiry; he only shrugged and looked out into the horizon from the wheel. What, in the captain's mind, was wrong with sending and receiving a message?

"I'd appreciate it, captain, if you respected my privacy on the matter. That goes for your reptile bird, too. My Hiba wouldn't attack _anything_ unless provoked."

"Excuse me? Are you suggesting that my bird is to blame for this trauma?" the pirate captain yelled, gesturing to the reptile bird perched on his shoulder.

"Oh, don't be so dramatic, it's a small scratch between his eyes!" Rosa retorted, looking around. "Where is Hiba?"

The pirate captain gave a growl and grabbed Rosa by the arm. "Do you know who you're talking to, you heartless bitch? I could have you thrown overboard, bound hand and foot! You're lucky to even be _alive_, given your heritage-!"

"Flew back ter' ya' room, Rosa…" The chartman replied for him, separating the two. "Lad, the bird's fine… jus' go see Abrax about getting the cuts treated and he'll be righ' as right cin' be in the days ter' come… Go git some rest, while yer' at it, it be nearly midnight!"

"Sorry 'bout Lucifer, he's been up all night n' real irritable with the crew this mornin'"

"So I noticed…" Rosa muttered, looking out into the horizon. "Arik…"

"Yeh?" the chartman turned the wheel slightly.

"Let me be perfectly honest… Why did you step down?" Rosa asked, turning to him. "You're technically _still_ the ship's captain, your son still has to rely on you for guidance, and so do the rest of the crew… What is a _chartman_, anyway?"

"The person who owns the charts, o' course…" he replied, letting the wheel go for a few seconds before replying. "'Cause, Rosa… I ain't gonna be around forever. The lad needs to take control now, know tha' ropes, keep up tha' legacy…"

"But what if _he_ dies suddenly? What then?"

"You take over, I _told_ yer'… why do yer' think yer' the first mate?"

"The first mate to a _chartman_."

"_Technically_, I be the admiral. I didn' step down, I took… more of a modest approach ter' things. Second, yer' the first mate to me _an_' the captain. If I die, you take over me. If, Kyoshi forbid, Lucifer dies, you take over him. Got it?"

"_No_, I haven't! Lucifer doesn't even _like_ me!" Rosa groaned. "Do you even know what you're doing, Arik? First I was a boatswain, now I'm a first mate to someone who isn't even the captain anymore! Now you're an admiral, in disguise with a rank that doesn't even exist! It makes no sense! There's no code of conduct-"

"We're _pirates_, Rosa, there _ain't_ no code of conduct." The admiral sighed. "Just trust me-" his eye then widened upon looking back at a set of charts that were on a table beside him and spun the wheel. "_Shit_!"

"_What_?" Rosa asked, running over.

"We were narly' headin' for the forbidden triangle!" he yelled, steering the ship around frantically. "Rosa, hoist them sails, _quick_!

Rosa just slapped her forehead and rushed off to do her job. "I _give up_…"

* * *

Ursa woke up the next morning to the sound of her creaky cell door opening.

She scrunched her nose in disgust and sat up.

"_You_?"

"Me." That arrogant, cut-glass voice, great…

"What do you want?" Ursa asked, folding her arms.

He shut and locked the door, then turned and looked down on Ursa. "Believe it or not, not everyone on this ship is blind…"

There was a pause… "What on _earth_ are you talking about?" Ursa inquired, though in an interrogative tone.

"I know who you are, Princess Ursa." He replied, unrolling a scroll.

Ursa's eyes widened. "_What_-?"

"I am the _scribe_. Books, scrolls, news… oh, and a little bit of studying here and there, of course."

Well… that explained a lot. No _wonder_ he visited almost as often as Rosa, if not more; he was _studying_ her…

"I am rather disappointed," he murmured, now unravelling a familiar-looking scroll…

"Oh really? Why?" Ursa asked, sounding as bored as often he did arrogant and not noticing the scroll.

The scribe looked back down at her. "I was hoping the Fire Nation would, this time, fall under the control of someone a little more impressive, a little less foolish, a little less temperamental…"

Ursa didn't grace him with her knowledge on his reply and just chuckled with a smirk on her face.

"What is so funny?" he asked, frowning and looking at her like something disgusting on the sole of his shoe.

"Nothing… just a joke. " she replied, not looking back up at him.

"… What joke?" he inquired in monotone.

She stood to her feet, holding onto the wall for support, and looked up at him. "Standing right in front of me."

He was taller than her and her posture wasn't the best, but she wasn't intimidated. "You really are… just an utter creep, aren't you? You come into _my_ prison, invade _my_ personal space, and then you start accusing me of being someone I'm_ obviously _not."

The scribe just frowned, then laughed. "Okay, that's enough; now tell me, what are you doing out of your palace?"

"Oh nothing… just sightseeing." Ursa rolled her eyes with an amused expression on her face, trying to fool him into thinking otherwise.

He then turned the scroll over.

That was _her_ scroll! How _dare_ he!

"Tell me, what were you doing with this?" he asked, smirking at her expression.

"_Give me that_!" she yelled viciously, banging her head against the door as the scribe stepped aside and 'she fell over his foot'.

"Don't worry, I'll give it back to you… I just want some answers." He said, looking down. "Oh, and just for your information, I didn't _steal_ it, if that's what you're thinking…"

Ursa sat up, rubbing the sore spot on her head before looking back up. "No, _please_, you don't understand-!"

"_Hey_!" a voice shouted from outside.

Ah, Rosa coming to the rescue again…

Ursa rushed out of the way just before the door flung open and the scribe was shoved outside.

"Wait, my _scroll_!" Ursa cried out, just as the door slammed shut.

She heard Rosa giving the pirate a good, long lecture outside… a few minutes later, the door opened and the scroll was tossed inside.

"Keep it hidden!" Rosa hissed in a whisper, shutting the door again.

Her raised voice and the scribe's retorts got quieter by the second until, eventually, they vanished…

Ursa took the scroll with a relieved expression, rerolled it and tucked it away inside the top of her dress where, if she could help it, she intended to keep it…

* * *

An aged man clad in grey-black clothing wandered the hallways half a week later, turning a corner with his hands behind his back.

The man was tall and well-built, an obvious sign of many years of serious training, suggestively with the sword he kept at his side, held in place with a black belt. The sheath was intricate in design, a correct sign that the man was rich. Strange, considering his grey-black clothing portrayed that he was a ninja…

He was walking with the chartman. After making his way through a dozen pirates and holding the captain at sword-point, he had asked to see "any prisoners they were keeping on this ship, by order of my boss". Another correct sign that he was informed and powerful as well as rich, stranger still…

"Tha' one's a corpse nobody wants ter' throw overboard…"

The ninja turned to the chartman, frowning, but just nodded and followed him to the next disgusting cell without looking into the first.

"Secondly, here's one yer' fellas were lookin' fer 'bout three weeks ago."

His eyes twitched for a second and he lowered his arms to his sides. "Pray tell, is this one _alive_?"

The chartman nodded. "She's hangin' on… hopin' ter' find a hot spot for the shadow economy before the lass dies in there…"

The ninja peered through the barred window. Seeing her only light source had been blocked, Ursa looked up.

She saw a… pair of dark eyes, sitting inside fairly dark skin. But that was about all she could make out… the rest of his features were covered in a certain black material the _ninjas_ wore.

The ninja's eyes widened; whereas Ursa's had just began to glare at him, as though it were his entire fault that she was wasting away in a cell on a ship full of creepy, drunken men.

"Sorry about 'er. She's a lil'… _antisocia_l." The pirate explained, using the nicest possible term he could think of.

"So I can see… Actually, my boss is offering up a large sum of money for that woman…" he mused out loud in his soft, yet husky voice…

Ursa's eyes widened and she drew her legs closer, wrapping her arms around them as though it were for protection, giving him a nasty glare and gritting her teeth. But to no avail…

"Would you be willing for a trade?" he asked, turning back to the pirate; a man around his age yet half his height, but twice his width.

"O' course!" the admiral exclaimed, eyeing his sword and grinning at the thought of the amount of money this man, or better yet his _boss_, owned…

And so, they walked off discussing meeting dates and payment. Leaving Ursa curled up and banging her head, continuously, on her knees in frustration and despondence.

If Rosa was going to save her from this prison, she had _better_ hurry up or Ursa was going to save herself… somehow.

* * *

Yet _another_ week passed… Ursa hadn't seen Rosa since her last visit; in fact she hadn't seen _anything_ properly for a few days. She was sick with, what she guessed, was an ocular migraine. Iroh's wife had once complained of feeling the way she now felt. Nauseous, with double vision.

She had just finished vomiting for the second time that day when the captain opened the door; soon thinking twice about entering, he remained at the door and looked at the floor with disdain.

"Get up," he ordered, scrunching up his nose at her hunched form.

"I can't…" Ursa replied weakly after a few seconds, shielding her eyes from the blinding light of the outside world.

Rosa, who was standing to the left of the pirate captain, sighed and walked in.

"I hope this is a plan…" Ursa muttered to her, just about making her out through her annoying diplopia. She then looked over at the captain as Rosa slung Ursa's right arm over her shoulder and chuckled, "Fool…"

"_Shut up_." Rosa muttered to her, helping Ursa stand to her feet.

"What's wrong with her?" the captain asked curtly to Rosa, as though she _should_ know and _should_ have told them…

"She's a firebender, _sir_. You've kept her in the dark for over a month, which in itself isn't good… And, firebender or not, keeping her in such a humid, damp location for so long _will_ make her sick." Rosa replied, shifting Ursa slightly so that her ribs didn't dig in to the elder woman's more thickly covered side…

The pirate captain just looked between his crewmembers.

"Get my ostrich horses, meet me outside. Bind her hands. We leave in ten minutes…" he ordered, leaving with his father to the entrance of the ship.

Ursa coughed and looked up as the pirates bustled. "Rosa…?"

"_Don't_ talk to me…" Rosa muttered. "We're not _meant_ to know each other…"

Ursa just frowned up at her, but Rosa's attention was already _elsewhere_…

"Pick the shackles, _not the rope_, she'll just burn it!"

Ursa could _not_ believe what she was hearing… and would now be voicing this sense of betrayal out loud, if it weren't for the fact that she felt like death warmed up. What a _coward_!

As her arms were roughly grabbed and clamped together behind her back, she reflected on the long overdue thought that she really couldn't trust _anyone_…

* * *

An hour's walk with no rest in the darkness of the seemingly-arctic night soon followed… Ursa, shivering uncontrollably, had stubbornly refused to be supported by Rosa and, instead, was pulled along by the captain's father… the twinkle of pure gold could just be _seen_ sparkling in his retina…

They waited around the deserted meadow; Ursa could hear the sounds of the chartman tapping his foot not too far away from the comfortable-ish boulder he'd allowed her to rest against.

Minutes passed… then ten, then twenty… was he even _coming_?

The chartman stood to his feet, verbally shuddering and throwing a bottle still full of drink to the ground, not sparing a thought for the fact that it had smashed upon impact… "_Aaaah_, he prolly' won't even _show_-!"

"Be _patient_." The captain commanded, leaning against another boulder and rubbing his hands in an attempt to keep warm. "He won't just make a deal and then not _show_…" But he sounded unsure…

Another minute passed…

"Maybe… it's an _ambush_?" someone piped up, eyes wide.

The captain nodded. "Exactly what I was thinking…"

Just then, a figure appeared from the shadows; making all the pirates jump and the admiral grab Ursa by the shoulder of her dress, pulling her roughly to her feet much to her disgust.

"Oh no, of course not. I am purely professional in my approach to this _trade_." The ninja walked directly opposite Ursa and the captain's father; his sword, in its sheath, was in his hand and his belt was missing. He span the sword in his hand, flipping it in the air and catching it smoothly and without effort. "My sincerest apologies, I had a little trouble with my one-ton pet feline…"

At this, _everyone_ looked around with fear in their eyes. The man then set his sights on Ursa, who was far too busy trying to convert two images of the black-clad figure into one to react with spite.

The ninja's expression twitched for a second. It was almost like… _pity_.

He looked directly at the captain. "I'll take her from here…"

The captain nodded, but the chartman kept his hands firmly on Ursa's shoulders. "First off, landlubber, I wanna see yur' money."

The ninja sighed and drew a large bag out from behind his back. The men and few women pirate's eyes widened and they had to wonder… had he kept it behind his back the _whole_ time? Or maybe… how much _gold_ must be in there?

"Here…" he said in a rough voice, holding it out and showing the money inside.

Everyone, except for Ursa and Rosa, stared in wonder. Ursa had seen enough gold in her lifetime and was occupied with her nausea; Rosa just gave a small smirk…

"_Oh_, look at all that _loot_…" the admiral murmured in awe and hunger.

"This bag is full of just over your weight in gold, _chartman_…" The ninja stated.

He dumped the sack of gold on the ground, picked up a handful of gold pieces and let them run through his fingers and back into the bag. "Do we have a deal?"

But the admiral's expression warped into one of scepticism… he drew Ursa closer by the chains on her shackles and looked directly at her. "How coul' some _peasant_ be worth that much in gold?" he asked

_Peasant?_

"I am obliged to keep such information confidential; hence the motive behind being given so much gold to give away…" the ninja replied.

Great… so she was just an item to everyone, _that_ was nothing new…

"Hrm…" the captain's father grunted thoughtfully, still sceptical although assured… he looked back over at the ninja standing in the distance. "Loot first."

"I'm sorry, sir…" the ninja approached, taking the bag of gold with him. He was not at all hesitant or afraid to approach a group that vastly outnumbered him; a group that didn't, exactly, play by the rules… "But we ninjas… we have no choice but to be _extremely_ careful around swindlers… You understand?"

The admiral just narrowed his single eye. "We're professional pirates, mate, we don't swindle…"

The ninja just gave a chuckle to this reply. "Of course…"

There was a long, uncomfortable pause…

"You get the girl when you hand tha' money over, 'n that's my final word!" the captain's father stated impatiently.

Another pause followed…

"Very well." The ninja stated, turning around.

Ursa looked up, but couldn't keep her head supported for long and dropped it again, scrunching her eyes in pain at the headache that followed.

If she'd had to walk all this way for nothing, then by _Agni_ she would…

"I see that we simply cannot make a deal," the ninja said clearly with his back turned, interrupting her thoughts, "so, I will go back to our leader and… arrange a _compromise_, as it where… We won't need gold or jewels, just _trophies_ from a great ambush… I'm sure things will work out in _our_ favour, captain." Under the veil, he couldn't help but smirk at the expressions on the pirate's faces.

"_Savages_!" someone in the crew called out; this caused uproar of dispute, _drastically_ different opinions were being shouted out at the top of the crew's lungs, profanity accompanying many of those views. The cold-night air revealed their breath and created an angry cloud of vapour, of which refused to evaporate as the pirates refused to cease their pandemonium.

"_Shut up_!" the captain bellowed at the top of his lungs, turning back to face his unruly crew. The pirates were silenced into muttering, then to complete silence… the cloud soon disappeared.

The irritated admiral shoved Ursa forward as he walked straight up to him. "Alrigh'… Enough o' these empty threats, _gimmie the loot_!"

The trade began… though it was painstakingly slow, given the fact that the ninja and the pirate would pay each other no trace of credence…

The ninja held the heavy bag with one hand and took a firm, though strangely not rough, grab of Ursa's arm with the other. The pirate, his grip almost bruising Ursa's other arm, then grabbed the top of the now-sealed sack of gold, his hand just below the equally unyielding ninja's hand…

There was a long moment's pause before the pirate finally decided to let Ursa go. True to his word, the ninja also let the sack of money go… Then holding onto his weak and irate new prisoner by her chains, he bowed slightly to the captain and his father.

" It was a _pleasure_ doing business with you… and such a shame to see all that money go, but that's just the way business goes…" he said to them both before looking down at Ursa.

"All your life…" Ursa mumbled the retort, not even sparing the effort to look up at the evil cur.

"Well, we'd best be going now." the ninja replied, ignoring Ursa. "It's a long journey back, and I wouldn't want to make the girl's suffering _too_ painfully slow…"

And with that, the crew and the pair separated and headed their separate ways…

Many of the pirates crowded round the chartman, who was holding the sack of gold close and barely out of their reach as they begged for a peek at the gold. Instead, they all got a scathing reply of, "Not _'til we get back_, ya' greedy scallywags!"

* * *

The chartman was laughing with pride and joy as, with much effort, he brought the heavy sack below deck upon reaching the ship and into the room where the pirates 'kept their wages'.

"This is jus' like… almost _half_ our entire stock, boys!" he called out jovially, slamming the sack on the floor so that the gold fell in a spread pile on the floor… and that's when the chartman noticed that the majority of the coins in the bag were not real gold… but rather _fake_ or just a collection of _copper pieces_!

A look of shock found itself on his features… "Why… th-tha' hog-faced _bilge rat_!"

The men just looked back at him with a look of horror on their faces, none of them willing to announce even _more_ bad news to the crushed old admiral…

"… _What's with the lot o' yer'_?" he bellowed out.

None of them felt brave enough to speak up… so they just stepped to the side and presented the empty, vandalised set of treasure chests to the captain.

A long, _long_ pause followed…

"W-_We' been swindled_!" the captain's father wailed; although he was a grown man, he sounded close to tears. He ran out of the treasure room and along the corridors of the lowest deck as fast as his legs would allow…

* * *

Rosa pulled on the mast rope until the sails were hoisted high and waving against the bitter wind, with unmatched pride and tenacity when compared to the shivering marauders below. Rosa climbed the mast, her expression firm and her head held high. Not feeling tired in the least and actually quite daring, she decided to make use of her time by checking the weather-beaten sails for any potential faults…

However, just before she reached the height where the wind was at it's roughest, a familiar voice echoed through the brisk air and travelled to Rosa's location.

"_Swindled!_"

Raising her brow, she slid down the mast slightly so that the wintry gale didn't block out the conversation that was to follow…

"_We' been swindled, Lucifer_!" the admiral cried out, running to the ship's intricately decorated, wooden wheel and grabbing his son by the shoulders, shaking him desperately.

"_What_ are you talking about?" his son replied while pushing away from him, completely perplexed.

"Tha' ninja stole all our treasure! Tha' loot, it _was_ our treasure! But it weren' even tha' full amount!" He cried out desperately, spluttering and spitting amid his shocked, rambling explanation… "That damned landlubber, he took all our treasure and left us with… with… narly' _nothin'_!"

There was a pause…

"_Get that ninja_!" the captain hollered after fixing an expression of shock and disbelief on his own face.

Within the minute, commotion unfolded upon the entire ship and pirates began spilling from the entrance to the vessel, weapons and voices raised high in fury.

Snow started to fall from the clouds above as Rosa smirked and slid down the mast rope, ready to lead the frantic, brainless pirates through the land and into a completely different direction… That is, if the captain and his father could attain order; or even compose _themselves_…

* * *

**_Finally, this chapter's finished! It's got to be my longest yet, 17 pages (including these author notes, the rest was 16 words exactly) on Word with the Times New Roman font at size 12, etc etc… It was _nuts_ trying to get it finished, but _so_ worth it!_**

_**Next chapter should be up sometime in two weeks, I have a lot of catching up to do with my last Art unit and then there's two other different subjects to worry about…**_

_**Anyways, hope you enjoyed it and there aren't too many mistakes! I was a little lazy with the editing, I need to get on with terminology homework.**_

**_EDIT: Made some minor spelling and clause changes, nothing major._**

* * *

_**I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.**_


	14. The Fugitive & The Drifter

The ninja's grip on her arm was far too gentle… Though her vision was still ailing her, Ursa remained hopelessly resolute while gripping to suspicion against the man who just 'bought' her.

The feeble hold wasn't necessary; or usual when it came to her and ninjas or pirates, that was what made the exiled princess feel wary… just what was this man planning?

Suddenly, she felt ill. Ursa's warped vision had given her a dizzy spell powerful enough to send her to the floor, doubled over and scrunching her features in pain.

The ninja stopped and crouched in front of her, "Ursa-?" he asked hesitantly before she covered his chest in whatever was left inside her tortured stomach.

The ninja tried to act unfazed, but his obvious feelings were given away by him scrunching his nose underneath his veil and breathing a muffled, disgusted moan. Ursa, though she only thought she saw the man's eye twitch, nevertheless gave the ninja a smug smirk and attempted to stand up without falling... only for a dizzy spell to overcome her again and send her to the ground on her side, whining in pain.

The ninja held his hands out to try and signal her to remain still. "Wait a minute, just let me-" as he unsheathed his sword and reached over, Ursa kicked him in the face. The relentless ninja grabbed her ankle, after springing himself back up from the fall caused by her kick. "I want to help you."

"Of course you do..." Ursa muttered in a brusque tone while yanking at her foot. "How do you know my name?"

"Listen to me! I'm not a ninja; I was fooling those pirates into believing that I was a ninja based on what Rosa told me!" the apparently-not ninja stressed, keeping a firm grip on Ursa's ankle.

Ursa stared at him... "Rosa?"

The stranger nodded and let go of her ankle, picking up his dropped sword. "Now let me cut the-"

But Ursa wasn't ready to trust him just yet, regardless of the fact that her bound arms were killing her... "Rosa is a traitor! I trusted her, and look where I am now!"

Ursa was losing her voice and her composure. Her nausea had subsided for now, but a coughing fit that followed her words was sure to bring it right back... yes, there it was again.

"So why... should I feel so inclined to trust you?" Ursa asked in a haughty tone, looking up at the black-clad fiend with a face like venom.

To the ninja, her rhetorical question required a genuine reply.

He removed the veil and pushed the material covering the rest of his head back, revealing an aged yet not quite elderly man with dark skin and dark eyes to the currently vision-impaired princess. There were wrinkles here and there, but most of them were from experience rather than age; the rest seemed to be a sign that he was at the peak of ageing. As he tied his hair back into a traditional Fire Nation topknot, Ursa frowned and looked over his features once again... well, what she could make out of his features...

"Wait... I think I recognise you." Ursa mused out loud.

The ninja looked back at her after he'd finished tying his hair, smiling slightly. "Ah, excellent, I wasn't sure if you'd remember! You were only young, after all..."

"I remember.... it was over twenty years ago. You came to our house for a few days; you were hiding for… some reason…" Ursa trailed off; hopefully the man would provide her with the answer for that?

The man gave a sad sigh. "I knew your father, Ursa, when I was in the army... despite being in top-form for his age, a real trouper"-Ursa smiled with pride-"he was _far_ too old for his final battle; the news spread quickly, and it disgusted me that Azulon ordered for it to happen... with a young child at home on her own, nonetheless..."

Ursa finally allowed the elder man to slice the shackles binding her arms together. Rubbing and twisting her wrists to try and gain the blood and Qi flow back, she stiffly turned around and faced the stranger. "Thank you... But how did? Who? How did you find me? And, who told-?" Ursa then stopped herself, thinking she had an answer to the last question. "Wait, was it Rosa?"

Her rescuer nodded. "She trained with Fat in fencing for around eight months under my watch. She didn't perfect it, but I know she never planned to. She was a drifter, but a good student nonetheless... always put the effort in, treated every lesson and every day like an opportunity to improve. I had been sceptical of training her at first, but she wouldn't leave us alone and she spoiled Zeljar... anyway, we remained good friends."

The man then sat down in front of her, putting his sword to one side. "She felt inclined to request that, right under those pirate's noses, I took you away somehow and, upon hearing a familiar name, I felt inclined to help. Now, we had to plan it all out carefully. Failure isn't really an option when it's just the two of us tricking an entire crew consisting of one hundred pirates. Over time, however, Rosa was worried about your physical and mental health. Maybe psychologically, too, for reasons I'm sure you already know. We had to act, and quickly; I was hoping it would be before you got to the state you're in, really..." he paused for a sigh. "I'm sorry you had to be kept in the dark about this… Rosa was unsure about how you'd react."

Rosa's lack of faith in Ursa and her acting abilities would, normally, have galled her somewhat; but for now, the ailing princess was far too grateful. If it hadn't been for Rosa and the stranger she could only recall from her childhood memories, she'd probably be dead... and if not, a 'product' in the underground market. She felt bad about doubting Rosa, but... obviously, that was what the older woman wanted to make the plan work.

Ursa had so many questions, her tired mind couldn't keep track of them all. So she settled for saying a well-deserved: "Thank you for this. And, I... I'm sorry about..." she finished nervously, pointing to her saviour's chest.

"Don't worry..." he said earnestly, removing the black clothing to reveal a second layer of clothing underneath it, exactly the same colour, material and size... Ursa frowned.

The man provided a simple explanation, "It's cold."

Fair enough...

"Though..." the fake ninja mused out loud before turning to look at Ursa. "Rosa and I, we were curious... what are you doing out of the palace, princess, and where's your crown?"

Ursa's eyes widened. So they knew? She just sighed, wondering why she even bothered trying to keep her identity a secret...

Sensing that Ursa was bothered by this, the man could only chuckle, "I'm sorry, my lady, but we both made the connection between you and the missing Princess Ursa... we're both from the Fire Nation, it's not just bad luck."

Ursa nodded and then found herself yawning, desperately wanting to close her eyes and rest her nauseating duplicate vision.

"Rest..." the swordsman insisted, noticing immediately. "Transportation away from here is going to take another hour or so to reach us, getting back to a boat and then to the Fire Nation is going to take even longer. You need the rest." He then insisted when Ursa shook her head, trying to deny her fatigue in order to stay awake.

The swordsman sighed as she continued shaking her head, knowing from the young woman's tired expression that she would soon fall asleep anyway. "I'll see about finding some food, too… you look starved to death."

"I can't go back to the Fire Nation… I'm not allowed there, never allowed…" Ursa muttered tiredly as her saviour walked over to a wall in the cave they had taken shelter in.

There was a pause… "Trust me." The swordsman replied, though he sounded unsure…

Ursa watched the man as he then dragged a huge bag out from a corner inside the wall… how did that get there? The corner, and the bag?

Ursa frowned and then stared at the large sack in confusion. "Wha-?"

"You didn't think all that gold was real, now did you...?" the old swordmaster asked, looking back at Ursa. When she still appeared utterly perplexed moments later, the man spoke up again. "Ah... let me explain."

He then unsealed the bag, showing the exhausted princess a sack full of real gold pieces. He then began to explain how he had robbed the pirates of their treasure after they left their ship with her to meet with him in the meadow. The swordsman then told her of how he ran back to their meeting point after hiding the bag of gold in this very cave, and waited until his aged lungs and heart had settled to their regular beat _before_ emerging from the darkness and presenting himself to the pirates, ready with a sack of fake gold topped by some of their own treasure to make a convincing-looking bag of gold.

"And here we are now." he finished, smiling. "The plan was a complete success."

But something was bothering Ursa...

"They're not stupid..." she mused out loud. "They'll notice the copper, sooner or later."

"Yes, rather perceptive. That is why Rosa agreed to lead them into the nearest town." he replied with a wider smile.

But Ursa _still_ wasn't happy. "What if they don't listen to her? Some of the crew were bound to have been watching you taking their gold… probably from hidden corners!"

"They will listen to Rosa, don't worry." he replied patiently. "I left a scattered trail of gold on the way back here, heading off course and towards the direction of said nearest town. Whether any pirates saw me take the gold or not, which I highly doubt, they'll follow that trail. Again, please, trust me."

Ursa had only one question left to ask. "You've really planned this all out... haven't you?" Ah, and another... "Oh... I don't... know your name."

She heard the name "Piandao" and a far-distant rush of footsteps before, more faint and tired than she thought, Ursa succumbed to sleep.

Piandao, noticing a split second later, immediately jumped in as the unconscious princess fell from the boulder and towards the ground and supported her torso using his arms. He frowned, noticing the unhealthy beetroot-coloured blush around her cheeks sticking out boldly against her white face.

"You're really sick..." Piandao muttered, just before he too picked up upon a distant sound of a number of hurrying footsteps.

The pirates...

Carefully resting Ursa against the floor, Piandao drew his sword and listened carefully.

* * *

Meanwhile, around the actual area the noise was cascading from, the crew had reached the meadow again and were now frantically searching for their stolen gold.

The captain kicked a boulder in frustration "Search faster!"

"Somehow, I don't think that will work…" The woman beside him quipped in a lazy tone.

The captain growled and raised his fist, before a more thick-set man grabbed his fist and gave him a stern glare.

"I though' yer' mother taught yer better than ta' go hittin' women, lad." The admiral said. "Now c'mon. Yer tired, we're _all_ tired. But bickerin' and fightin' ain't gunna git us _nowhere_."

The captain just sighed and yanked his fist away, muttering a simple "Sorry" to his father before walking away to check on progress from different groups of pirates.

The admiral turned to Rosa. "Well blow me down! It's not ev'rahday you hear the lad say he's sorry."

Rosa just gave an empty chuckle and rubbed at an eye.

Noticing this, the captain's advisor frowned "You look worn ou'…"

"I'm fine, Arik." Rosa replied. "Haven't been sleeping well, that's all."

Arik gave a chuckle also. "That's normal. Damn, it's helpful havin' such a large ship and crew, bu' tha' also means more noise and more echo space."

Rosa smiled at him, then sighed. "That was a shame to lose the girl…" she muttered as they began walking again, changing the subject and yet sounding strangely genuine. "But to be honest, she was wasting away. It would have been a nasty job to clean up afterwards."

The admiral nodded his head in agreement. "I be sayin' that to the damn scallywag who bou'ht 'er. Just las' week… I said she didn' look righ', mostly for 'im to 'urri up and buy her, but I mean' what I said-"

"Ah, Arik!" Rosa suddenly called out in surprise.

"What be-?" and then, Arik saw it too…

Rosa removed her foot, a scattered trail of gold could be seen glistening in the distance towards a nearby, run-down city on the outskirts of the countryside.

Arik grinned, patted Rosa hard on the shoulder and then bellowed out, "_Doubloons_! Follow that trail!" He then turned to a single man, utterly perplexed and heading in the wrong direction and yelled "_The oth'r way_, ya squiffy!"

"This way!" Rosa barked to another group at a distance, pointing to the trail of gold.

Rosa walked back up to Arik and Lucifer once the entire crew was informed of the trail and walking in the 'right' direction.

Rosa looked at the admiral, and he gave her a triumphant smirk back. For some reason… nothing hurt Rosa more than having to lie to Arik. But why? It was only _Arik_, after all…

* * *

Ursa woke up again hours later; wishing she hadn't... As her vision tried to adjust, her eyes rolled, as though physically trying to blur and duplicate her returning single-vision. Her head hurt but the pain soon converted to nausea; keeping her eyes firmly fixed shut, she felt her entire body fall.

This was going to hurt...

"_Whoa_! _That_ was close..." As Ursa heard those words, she felt her fall abruptly cease as she was grabbed by her waist from behind.

"Piandao...?" Ursa mumbled in inquiry, recognising the sword-master's voice.

She was gently pulled back into a sitting position by the same hands who had grabbed her. By now she could see her surroundings, but only just…it was too dark, and her vision was straining to adjust further so she just closed her eyes again.

"Are you okay?" an unfamiliar voice asked from her right-hand side.

"It's difficult to say…" Ursa mumbled, curiosity and fear turning her head to her right and opening up her eyes. "Excuse me…but who are you?"

"Gen, my lady." The stranger replied. "Master Piandao summoned me by messenger hawk last week and told me that he and a sick woman, you, would need transportation to his castle."

Ursa wasn't sure what to say… How could Piandao have known of her current condition one week ago? Maybe she'd lost track of time or had Rosa informed Piandao of her deteriorating condition? Maybe she was even going mad? It would have been no surprise to Ursa, everything else had happened to her…But more importantly, did Piandao genuinely trust this man?

"Then shouldn't you be steering?" Ursa inquired, frowning. From what her adjusting eyesight could see, the man didn't have reins in his hands…

The man chuckled. "Oh, no, my manservant has the reins."

"Your manservant?" Wait…_castle_? Ursa sat up, having just caught herself slumping and tried to remain upright despite her sickly state. "You obviously don't offer transportation for a living, then…Do you?" she then added, catching out on how ignorant she must have sounded with her previous statement.

But Gen merely smiled. "I'm a man of many trades. I met Piandao here while in the army as a young man, and again at an artist's gathering. It's rather helpful, having diversity in your life."

Ursa nodded, gripping to her forehead. "Forgive me, for a month now I've automatically seen any stranger as a potential threat."

"I understand…Piandao told me of the circumstances of your illness, I'm sorry about what's happened to you."

Wait, so, if Piandao told him _that_…"It's not your fault… What else did he tell you?" Ursa inquired, now able to see the man's face as he took out a lantern of fireflies.

"Nothing he didn't want me to know." The man replied, placing the lantern on the seat between Ursa and himself. "Why?"

"No reason…" Ursa mumbled in reply, pushing herself back up into a sitting position after catching herself slumping again. "Thank you…thank you both-"

"No need." Gen replied in interruption, uncomfortable with seeing a woman in such a sickly state trying to stress her vocals and drain what little energy she seemed to have giving unnecessary gratitude.

"It's my job. Now look…Ursa, isn't it?"-Ursa nodded-"There's a supply of blankets in the trunk, for emergencies and bad weather conditions. We'll be stopping within the hour to rest the ostrichhorses and gather some rations. Eat, and then go back to sleep." Gen declared, sighing when Ursa's expression gave away how reluctant she seemed to follow through with the idea. "Please…"

"Gen is right, Ursa…" Piandao agreed, nodding. "You genuinely look like you're starving to death. You won't have much of an opportunity to rest when we're back at the castle, I have two attention-needy pets and a butler."

"Oh…are they relatively young?" Ursa asked, smiling.

"Surprisingly, no…" Piandao replied. "But they appear younger than their years and behave even more-so." The swords-master then pulled a face which Ursa couldn't help but giggle at.

"I take it they cause you trouble?" Ursa inquired, amply smiling for the first time in quite a while.

"Almost more than they're worth, particularly Zeljar…" Piandao mused out loud, before clapping his hands together. "Now, no more questions. I want ten hours of strictly uninterrupted sleep from you, right now."

"But-"

"No buts."

"But Gen told me to eat first." Ursa persisted, folding her arms to try and assert her point. Oh, and because it was cold…

Piandao rolled his eyes and sighed. "Fine, ten hours of rest starting from _then_, then." Despite that impatient tone, he smiled nonetheless.

"Where is your castle?" Ursa asked after a few more moments of silence.

"Shu Jing." Piandao replied while looking outside.

"Where is Shu Jing?" Ursa asked again, frowning. She knew of many places in the Fire Nation, as she had once been required to, but she'd never come across Shu Jing…maybe heard of it, but she couldn't recall enough information about it to say she knew what Piandao was talking about.

"For someone who can't stand on her own two feet without assistance, you have a lot of questions to ask…" Piandao replied.

Gen laughed at this. "Don't be so reluctant to answer her questions Piandao, she's not your prisoner."

"I was only joking!" Piandao retorted, chuckling although he sounded defensive.

Ursa just quirked her brow as they continued bickering; old men could be so odd sometimes.

Suddenly, the carriage stopped. Ursa frowned and looked outside, jumping in surprise when a man jumped down and smiled at them.

"We're at our resting point." The small man announced. "Would you like me to stay with the lady?"

"That won't be necessary." Piandao replied. "I'll stay. Can you get me some soup, please?"

Gen nodded, smiled and leapt from the carriage. "What about you, Ursa?"

She shrugged. "Anything… as long at its not purple pentapus." She muttered tiredly.

Piandao, Gen and Gen's manservant all frowned at each other.

"We'll see you soon." Gen said with a nod, walking off to a nearby building with his valet.

"Purple pentapus…?" Piandao muttered in confusion. "Just what have those pirates been _feeding_ you?"

Piandao never did get an answer…Ursa had already drifted back to sleep again, dreaming of happier times back in the courtyards of the palace.

Piandao simply smiled and stood up, trying to keep as close a watch on the banished princess as he could while searching for a blanket at the back of the carriage.

* * *

Three days later, Rosa sat against the mast with an ink pot sitting next to her and a piece of weather-torn parchment spread out in front of her. Her foot clamped the edge of the paper down to the deck, preventing the winter winds from carrying it out to sea.

She sighed and twirled the quill that was in her hand.

Three nights prior, after an exhausting and unsuccessful search the pirates had trudged miserably back towards their ship. Rosa had sent a message to Piandao before she went to sleep and, bless Hiba, her beloved messenger hawk returned to Rosa earlier this morning with a reply…

_Ursa is safe and sound, she has been sleeping for most of the ride but that's what we've been encouraging her to do while she's been awake. Was she this stubborn while she was imprisoned? No matter… did our plan with the trail of gold work? And more importantly, are you safe? Let me know as soon as possible!_

_Take care,_

_Piandao_

However, the message she was now about to write was not for Piandao…she had written a reply back to Piandao assuring him that the plan had worked and she was indeed safe. She had also included that the ship was due to make port at Gaoling and Rosa planned to leave this sorry excuse for a pirate crew while they'd docked, unnoticed while leaving no evidence behind if she could help it.

But, she didn't have the heart to leave without saying goodbye to someone important…

During the past month or so, Rosa had been inspired to do something good on the basis of a past friendship. She didn't wish to leave another one without saying a _real_ goodbye.

Biting her lower lip, Rosa grabbed the parchment and raised her foot to release it from the floor. Grabbing a nearby board to lean on and bringing the paper onto that, she took a deep breath of the salty sea-air and began scribbling her farewell letter.

* * *

Two moons prior to the night Rosa began writing her letter, Piandao and Gen were in conversation while Ursa was sound asleep.

"…Where have I heard the name Ursa before?" a familiar voice mused, looking down at her sleeping form.

The sword-master frowned and simply turned away from his friend to look out the carriage window. "No idea…"

But Gen persisted. "There's something you're not telling me…"

"There's a_ lot_ I'm not telling you. Didn't we agree that we wouldn't pester her on the matter?" Piandao replied, sounding calm though he felt tired and therefore impatient.

"Well I'm not pestering _her_ on the matter." Gen then sighed after a long, awkward silence. "Piandao…please."

After another few moments of silence, Piandao turned around. "You are sworn to secrecy, do _not_ repeat what I'm about to tell you to anyone. Do I make myself clear?" he said seriously.

Gen frowned, but nodded. "Perfectly clear."

Piandao stared his friend down, just to be sure, and then sighed. "Very well…Ursa…is the Fire Lord's missing wife, from the Central Mainland."

Gen's frown warped into a quirked brow immediately. "A-Are you sure?"

"She confirmed it for me before you arrived." Piandao replied with a nod.

Gen then gave a sceptical frown and looked down at Ursa again, who was currently tossing and turning in her sleep.

"She's…not really what I expected, not from the Royal Family." Gen muttered, turning back to Piandao.

Piandao looked over, probably to make sure that she didn't fall off the seat again, then replied to Gen. "She's not a royal by birth…but then again, we can't stereotype-"

"I can…" Gen interjected, "_we_ sure as hell can. We saw what they were doing was wrong-"

"We saw that what the _army_ was doing was wrong." Piandao interjected in turn. "Their views don't necessarily reflect the Royal Family's views."

"Don't even try to defend them, Piandao…" Gen said. "After all, what have they done for you?"

After a few _more_ moments of silence, Piandao sighed. "Regardless, I'm keeping the princess safe. What kind of a man would I be if I didn't? I mean, look at her!"

"Hmm? Oh! What I said was no reflection on her as an individual. No, no, you take care of Ursa, by all means." Gen then sat back in his seat, somewhat wishing he'd kept his mouth shut.

"What do you mean, "Not what you expected?" Piandao suddenly asked, frowning.

"Just…well, she has a personality." Gen replied.

"Have you even met a member of the royal family?" Piandao inquired, quirking his brow.

"Yes. Fire Lord Azulon and the Dragon of the West. Azulon, well…I think you already know. And the Fire Lord's brother? As caught up in the propaganda as the rest of his family…But hey, that's my experience."

"So, why aren't you as quick to judge the princess here…?" Piandao insisted, gesturing to Ursa.

Gen merely shrugged. "I guess we just met on different terms than I did with Azulon and Iroh… Talking of which, what is she doing out of the palace?"

"She's…not allowed back into the Fire Nation, apparently." Piandao said with a frown, looking back down at Ursa yet again.

Gen also frowned and looked down at Ursa. "Why not?"

"She didn't say." Piandao muttered.

"Not allowed back? Say, you don't think she's been banished, do you?" Gen quipped in, looking back up at Piandao.

Piandao looked back up at his friend also, then gave a short laugh. "Exiled? A member of the royal family? Highly unlikely…"

"No, no, think about it…" Gen responded, his tone enthusiastic. "The day she disappeared, was rumoured to be the day Azulon passed away!"

"Agni…" Piandao muttered, folding his arms and sitting back. He could see where this was going… his friend was a brilliant storyteller after all, as well as an aspiring 'detective'.

"Maybe…she had something to do with it?" his friend continued. "Maybe, that was the reason she left? It all makes sense Piandao!"

Piandao rolled his eyes. "A woman in her late twenties, who couldn't even escape a prison cell before she nearly starved to death, against a prodigious Fire Lord with guards at every door he enters? Your imagination astounds me, Gen…"

But Gen was on a roll… "Hey now, I didn't say anything about _her_ murdering _him_! I just said, maybe she had something to do with it? And hey, don't discount that maybe she did indeed murder Azulon! She could even have had help, if she committed the deed."

Piandao gave an exasperated sigh. "What _deed_, Gen? How does one go about murdering the Fire Lord without leaving so much as a hint of evidence behind?"

Gen paused for a few moments, thinking hard. When nothing came to him, he merely sighed. "_Somehow_, it could work. Trust me…"

Piandao was just shaking his head in disbelief, far too tired to keep an open mind. "Lunatic…"

Meanwhile, on top of the carriage, Gen's valet was listening to the two men's conversation… as silence fell over the carriage, the valet pulled the reins back to stop the ostrichhorses.

Before Gen could start conjuring theories again, the carriage screeched to a halt again.

The 'aspiring detective' frowned and looked outside, the frown soon disappeared. "Ah, we're finally at the docks!"

"Excellent." Piandao said, secretly glad that he wouldn't have to sit through any more of his friend's bizarre assumptions. "Thank you, Gen, I am most grateful for your help."

As the sword-master stood, he then realised something and frowned. "But if she's not allowed back into the Fire Nation… how will we-?"

Gen sighed. "Let me guess? You need my assistance again?"

"Well, no, I-" But before Piandao could protest, Gen was already out of the carriage with Ursa, wrapped head-to-foot in blankets, in his arms.

Piandao frowned and looked over at Gen and the bundled princess…what was he planning? And would it help or hinder them?

"The plague!" he suddenly screamed out, running towards a trade ship. Piandao's eyes widened. He quickly picked his sword from the seat and ran over to them. "The plague, it's heading north, from this direction!"

"What are you doing?" Piandao hissed; grabbing Gen's shoulder as panic began to spread throughout the docks.

"Getting you a free ride." Gen whispered back to his friend before running up to the boat. "Wait!"

One man was able to respond; he paused and then peered over the railings on the edge of the deck.

"This woman…is pregnant." Gen gestured to Ursa. "And sick. She needs to travel back to the Fire Nation, her and her husband." Gen then gestured over to Piandao. "Would you be willing to provide that transport?"

Piandao, in turn, gawked. Pregnant? _Husband_?

"I-Is it contagious?" the man at the edge of the deck asked, stepping back.

"What kind of a question is that?" Gen roared. "We're running _away_ from contagious diseases, not inviting them onto your vessel! Now, are you going to leave this pregnant woman to die or are you going to ensure her a healthy pregnancy?"

"This trade ship… doesn't usually board passengers, but I suppose we could make an exception if she's pregnant." The young man then ran off to inform the person in charge.

Gen then walked over to Piandao and handed Ursa over to him. "Don't worry, just play along."

"Your plan… is so flawed, and farfetched, that it might actually work." Piandao muttered, accepting Ursa from his friend. He simply shook his head. "Like I said, complete lunatic…Keep the rest of the gold, I don't need it anymore."

* * *

Three nights later, a search for Rosa was carried out as the crew's admiral had commanded. After many hours of searching, they'd had no luck.

Arik entered his cabin, slamming the door behind him in frustration. What happened? Had she been kidnapped, or worse…? If so, then why-?

All the man's thoughts came to a halt when he saw a letter addressed to him, clamped between the surface of his bedside table and a flask of rum. How could he tell it was a letter? Well, the free side of it read "Dear Arik", in Rosa's handwriting.

For some reason, the old admiral felt his heart race as he bustled over and yanked the parchment off the table, cursing as his flask fell to the floor and the contents started to spill. Nonetheless, he left the contents to pour and read through Rosa's letter…

_By the time you read this letter, I will no longer be in Gaoling._

_It's time I moved on. I don't have many years left to enjoy of this life, and I don't wish to hurt you but I feel like I am wasting my time on this ship. It's not you… it was never you. You're the reason I joined this crew in the first place, Arik!_

_It's…mostly me. Sadly, my love for the sea is beginning to dwindle…I'm a drifter; my interests change almost as much as the four seasons alternate._

_Do not come looking for me, you have a son and a crew to control and I have new ambitions for the future._

_Maybe someday, our paths will cross again but until then…I bid you farewell and good luck in all you and your crew plan to do._

_You've been a good friend and a great captain, and I am glad I got to know you._

_Yours,_

_Rosa_

First the girl, then the gold and now this…

Of course Rosa never wished to hurt him, but hope and reality were two entirely different concepts. Emotion sent the old admiral back onto the bed, and the letter fell to the floor.

At that very moment, he considered sending his crew out of Gaoling to bring her back by force, but…no, he could never make Rosa do anything against her will.

Besides, she was right. He had Lucifer and the crew to think about…they were due for two more raids, and he knew the crew were anxious to carry them out. Especially after losing their gold to that damn ninja…

Sadly, there was an ancient code that Arik had always followed. Any man, woman or otherwise who falls behind…is left behind.

Arik took a deep breath, picked up the letter and stored it in one of his lectern's drawers before he left the room.

* * *

_**So, I didn't think I'd be continuing with the fic. I probably will be, just not consistently.** **Sorry guys but my life is a huge pain, just like everyone else's is.**_

**_Thanks for taking the time to read the chapter, regardless! Truly appreciated.  
_**

**_

* * *

_**

**_I do not own Avatar.  
_**


	15. The Journey Back

"Kya?" a high-pitched voice yelled out, carrying on in an echo which travelled through the mountains. The screech of a predatory bird accompanied the last echo.

The owner of the voice, a small girl, was trudging through the snow, braving the bitter cold in her strive to find her friend.

"Kya, are you out there?" she then tried again, trying to follow the echo as it bounced through the atmosphere.

A young boy, just over ten years of age, was fishing nearby using only a makeshift fishing rod and pieces of chipped firewood for bait. He eventually threw the rod to one side and glared over at the younger girl.

"What are you yelling about? Your big mouth is scaring the fish!" he called over to her, standing to his feet while picking up the rod and "bait" as though he intended to walk elsewhere.

Apparently rather used to the boy's rude attitude, the girl turned to face him and smiled. "Hakoda! Have you seen Kya?"

"No…" Hakoda replied, as though the girl had asked a stupid question. He threw the rod and burnt bark back on the fluffy, white ground yet again. "Since you've been here, you've been wasting all of your time with _her_. Don't you have a… hobby, or something? You know… cooking, knitting, woman stuff?"

There was a pause. "No." the girl replied. Then, after a few more seconds of silence… "Do you wanna come penguin sledding with me instead?"

"How can you stand there, talking about _penguin sledding,_ with an entire tribe to feed?" Hakoda asked exasperatedly, exaggerating his gestures. "Only children and-and _penguins_ penguin sled!"

The girl merely frowned. "We… are children. Come on, Hakoda, learn to have a little fun!" she then yelled out, walking over to the older boy.

"Hey, I _so_ know how to have fun! And my fun is _beneficial_ to the village; I'm _way_ on my way to feeding our entire tribe!" Hakoda replied, folding his arms and giving her a smug smile.

"Really…?" The girl asked, genuinely taking what Hakoda said seriously. "How much food have you gathered?"

"Uh… well… none yet. But like I said, I'm on my way to doing it!" Hakoda replied, taking on a defensive tone.

"Oooooh…" the girl replied, nodding and wearing a somewhat bemused face, as though she could now see right through the older child.

"Don't patronize me!" Hakoda exclaimed, scowling.

The girl frowned. "What does that mean? 'Patornize'?"

After a while, Hakoda just shrugged. "Dunno… mama didn't tell me."

"Well… no, I didn't mean that." she replied, looking and sounding apologetic. "May I help you now? If you don't mind, that is?"

Hakoda just rolled his eyes. "Yeah, whatever, you can help... I'm taking the boat out to sea, though. I'll get more luck out there at this time of the day; the penguins usually hunt within another hour from now, so there'll be plenty of fish. Just keep quiet and watch the bait, and I'll let you come with me."

The girl nodded and followed the boy as he picked his fishing equipment up from the ground again and walked off to his right.

"Don't tell _anyone_ we're going out in dad's boat. If we don't get stopped first, I'll probably get in serious trouble for taking you off land in _his_ boat." Hakoda instructed as the village came into view.

As the girl nodded again, a sickening cry suddenly echoed throughout the atmosphere that stopped them both dead in their tracks. Then there was silence…

Heart pounding, the girl turned to the boy and analyzed his shocked expression.

"Hakoda?" she whimpered in inquiry.

"Sni…" he murmured solemnly to himself.

"W-Who…?" the girl spluttered? "How do you-?"

"It's Sni, I just _know_! Stay here!" Hakoda then broke into a sprint, running up a large hill of snow.

"Huh?" Despite what the older boy had ordered, the small girl was far too curious for her own good and began to run as fast as her legs would allow. She caught up with Hakoda halfway up the hill. "Hakoda, what's happened?"

"I told you to stay back!" Hakoda exclaimed, still running as he talked to the girl running beside him.

"You can't go on your own, stupid!" the girl retorted before slipping and landing on her front in the snow.

Hakoda stopped running and looked down at her, shaking his head. "Ursa, I'm serious okay? You don't need to do this, I _do_. In a few years, I'll take over as the chief of this tribe… I need the experience. Just, go get help." He then finished, helping her to stand up. "This is man's work."

Ursa watched Hakoda as he ran over the hill, letting that statement register in her mind. "_Man's_ work?" she murmured, frowning. But… that wasn't fair at all! Hakoda wasn't a man, why did he get to go and she didn't? Pouting, Ursa waited until Hakoda was out of sight and headed west from her position, towards the direction she thought she heard the screams of pain echo from. The scream was loud enough… she could already hear men from the tribe running from their tents; they didn't need to be told that something bad had happened. After a short trek past the numerous snow piles that had accumulated over the blizzard season, Ursa eventually found a clue… blood. She'd seen nasty accidents that left screaming kids running back to their mothers or fathers; she could even recall this happening to herself once or twice, back on Ember Island. But what was strange to Ursa, was that there was much more blood on the ground than she'd ever seen on a child's knee or arm. Whatever had happened just now, it was more serious than just a scrape or a cut…

Ursa looked around. If there was blood… where was the person bleeding? As if on cue, she felt the snow underneath her slip her off her feet; knocked down into a series of rolls and somersaults, Ursa felt herself hit someone's legs… How could that be? The person she hit wasn't there a second ago; and what had tripped her over? She looked back over to where she was standing before, and felt a scream rise up and out of her throat. A monster was laying in the ground, or… what looked like a monster. Whatever it was, it was smouldering and writhing in agony…

Before Ursa could run, the owner of the pair of legs above her suddenly grabbed her by the back of her fur coat and lifted her off the ground and up to a height where they both faced each other. Ursa would simply have screamed again if she wasn't stunned silent by what she saw… The same man she saw attempting to burn half of Ember Island!

She whimpered in fright as the old man raised one hand, keeping her off the ground with the other, and set his free hand alight with fire. But he then paused whatever attack he was about to perform and studied her features… doe-shaped, golden eyes… long, black hair and pale skin. A Fire child, _Kuzon's_ child. He extinguished the flame and listened to her pitiful whimpering before he gave a soft, sadistic laugh and grabbed Ursa under the jaw with the same hand.

"Shut up!" he snapped suddenly, his facial features contorting into a scowl. The features then softened into a bemused expression as the small girl swallowed and obeyed without a fuss. "You'll live to die another day, rat. For now, I need you to cover up for me. And if you don't do what I say… I'll make _daddy_, and whoever gets in my way, burn like the Water Tribe scum on the ground over there."

Ursa tried to look back at the disfigured body laying on the ground, unconscious from the pain. What did he mean… by Water Tribe scum? Was… that a _person_?

Xing Hai, however, had a firm grip on her tiny face and he wasn't about to release her…

"I think we have an understanding." He said softly, smirking. "You will tell everyone that the scream came from that direction…" Xing Hai then took his hand away from her jaw and pointed to his left. Ursa turned to look, but soon had her head turned around and clamped in place again as Xing Hai grabbed her underneath her jaw for the second time.

"You will tell that tribe of human waste that you didn't find or see _anything_." The much-older man stated, then drawing her closer to make a final point, slowly and clearly. "Do you understand?"

By now, the young girl had just resorted to biting her lip to keep as calm as possible, only her wide-eyed expression and the occasional shiver gave off any trace of fright. This horrible old man was cruel and dangerous, how could he be related to her father? He wasn't like family at all…

Nonetheless, Ursa had to be brave. For her father's sake…

She nodded, finally speaking to him for the first time in a shaken, but somewhat sturdy tone. "Yes."

Xing Hai gave a smirk. "Good…"

And with that, he dropped her back into the snow and said a simple-"don't disappoint me."-after he walked over to the burnt body, threw it over his shoulder like a sack of coal, covered the blood-soaked snow with a sheet of whiter snow using his foot and suddenly jet-propelled himself into the air using fire from his feet, heading towards the opposite direction to which he had pointed out to the quivering girl on the floor.

Shortly after the old man disappeared into the horizon, Ursa was on her feet once she was sure nothing bad would happen again. As she brushed the snow from her coat, she heard footsteps and turned to look behind her. A group of men started to appear over a hill a short distance away. One ran ahead, fast approaching her… her father.

"Ursa!" he cried out, dropping onto his knees upon reaching her. She was lifted off her feet again, but this time she was pulled into a bear hug. "I was worried sick…" he murmured.

"_Dad_!"

Everybody turned to face the direction that piercing cry came from. Hakoda suddenly appeared from around a corner and ran up to one of the oldest men in the group.

"Hakoda, what happened?" he asked him.

"I'm sorry… father… I couldn't find anything…" Hakoda replied, out of breath.

"Ursa?" Kuzon then asked, letting his daughter go and putting his hands on her shoulders, looking her directly in the eyes. "Did you see anything?"

There was a pause…

Finally, Ursa shook her head. "Only… that scream, I'm sure it came from… over there." She said, pointing in the direction that Xing Hai had told her to.

There was a pause.

"Noah, I have a bad feeling about this…" Kuzon muttered, looking ahead to where his youngest child had pointed.

Hakoda's father looked at Kuzon; eventually the Chief of The Southern Water Tribe just sighed and turned to one side of the group. "Amak, Kesuk, Cupun, head in that direction, report back to me around sunset." And then to the two twins on the opposite side of the group. "Tatkret and Tartok, look elsewhere… I will gather more men from the tribe and we will all meet up here on the aforementioned time." He then turned to Kuzon. "Take Ursa and go back to your wife and daughter. I'm sorry Kuzon, but I can't enforce the responsibilities of our tribe onto you… Under any circumstances." Finally, he turned to his son. "Hakoda, go home and stay there. Tell your mother I'll back later."

As Hakoda protested, Kuzon stood to his feet and held Ursa's hand. He wanted to protest too; he wanted to help, he wanted to feel as though he belonged in this tribe, but… sadly, that just wasn't possible. "Let's go home, Ursa…" And with that, they both left, too busy with their own thoughts to even look at each other.

Ursa felt wretched… At the time, it was for lying… something her mother had told her _never_ to do. But now, since these events were merely a memory, subconsciously Ursa knew what was to come… and it was much, _much_ worse than a lie.

A snowstorm buried the entire village later that week. Luckily, Noah had warned the whole tribe beforehand. Most of the villagers, including Ursa & her family, had managed to barricade themselves into a 'shelter' of sorts…

The memory of that night, to this day, seemed as clear and as vivid to Ursa as the very moment it had happened.

Waking up in the dead of the night to her sister's scream of anguish, she already feared the worst-the image of that burning body convulsing on the ground-and rushed to find Anastasia. Panic spread through the shelter and made it even harder for Ursa, who had previously fallen asleep while in conversation with Kya and the girls, to find her family. Just as she'd gotten a glimpse of her sister's hunched, sobbing form, Hakoda's mother had stopped her. Ursa was turned around as the older woman shook her head.

"No… We can't let you see this, you're much too young." She said, steering her away from the scene.

"I don't understand… What's happened to my sister?" Ursa cried out as she was dragged along by the arm.

She didn't get an answer straight away, until Kanna found a clear corner and sat her down. "Nothing… It's… It's your mother-"

"Mother!" a familiar voice suddenly called out. Ursa caught a glimpse Hakoda pushing his way through the crowd.

"Get outta the way, this is an _emergency_!" he shouted angrily, pushing a rather large woman away by her backside and finally reaching Ursa & Kanna. "Have you seen father?"

"And what's wrong with my mother?" Ursa added, panic now evident in her voice.

Neither of them ever did get a reply… nor did they ever see their missing parent again.

As the panic died down, Anastasia walked over to the group of frightened-looking children the adults that had gathered together in a corner. A few of them were now wandering from that corner, either pacing, panicking or asking what happened to their mother, father, or both…

Ursa was helping Kya comfort a young toddler, screaming for her own mother.

"Don't worry… I'm sure you'll find her soon." Kya said.

Ursa didn't have anything to say… While Kya was trying to reassure her, Ursa's share of comfort was more like an "I know how you feel" type of reassurance. This was probably less effective…

"Ursa…" Anastasia said, using a voice quite unlike her own.

Ursa looked up, letting the toddler go as a name they obviously recognised was suddenly called out by a young Water Tribe woman.

"Annie, where are mom and dad…?" she asked, standing to her feet.

Her sister's face was stained with tears; Ursa had never seen her sister cry before…

"Dad's fine." She choked out. She swallowed as she sat down where Ursa was once sitting. "Come here…"

Ursa approached her uneasily, holding onto Anastasia's hands as she guided her onto her lap.

"You've gotta be strong when I tell you this… okay? You've gotta be strong for us, and for the rest of the tribe. Those kids… some of them will have lost their moms or dads too. But the important thing… is what we have left. I still have you and dad, and, as long as we have each other, we'll be okay." Her sister said, wiping a stray tear away from her eyes.

Somehow, that summarized everything… her mother was gone. But where did she go…?

"Mom… isn't coming back." Anastasia finished.

At the tender age of seven, the concept of death was still quite unfamiliar to Ursa. Especially not the death of a family member. However, she understood-and feared-loss.

"No." Ursa said, unable to believe what she heard. "I want my mom!"

Anastasia just choked a sigh and hugged her close. "Me too…"

"What happened to her?" Ursa asked. "Where… did she go?"

Anastasia just sighed and replied in a hushed tone. "To a better place…"

Hakoda sat down nearby. Ursa looked over at him; she'd never seen him looking so shocked before…

She knew what had happened, long before he'd buried his face in his knees.

Nobody in the tribe knew the exact cause of the disaster; the murders were all carried out so discreetly… In the end, they had to assume that the cold had gotten the best of them all. All the victims were out searching for anyone who was left behind, despite the disagreement of other tribe members, after all… except for Ursa's mother, she'd been inside the 'safe' house the entire time.

Nobody in the tribe knew about what had happened to Ursa's mother. Noah was one of the only three people in the tribe who knew the truth, who knew that Ursa and her family were from the Fire Nation, and her father had wanted to keep it that way. Her mother's death would have raised too many questions if they'd known exactly _who_ Kuzon and Anastasia suspected had killed her… Two days before they left The Southern Water Tribe for Ember Island, and five days after the murders, Anastasia told Ursa that, in case anyone asked, Juan had died of 'hypothermia'.

Perhaps her mother, Hakoda's father, everyone else who had died that night might be alive today… if Ursa had let go of all of her fear and actually told the tribe the _truth_.

* * *

Ursa held onto her head as she woke up with the same, painful migraine much later on after the event in her dream. Another bad dream…

She looked around. These surroundings were, naturally, unfamiliar. But they did not appear threatening enough to cause her alarm, such as the fact that there was no Fire Nation insignia anywhere to be found.

Ursa tried to stand to her feet, slipping sideways as a wave of nausea overcame her which prompted her to grip to the bedside table and take slow, deep breaths in the hope that she might feel better afterwards.

Her vision was returning… thank goodness. She knew many people who had been blinded in one eye by ocular migraines, due to improper care and bad luck. Once again, Ursa had reigned fortunate in this internal struggle.

She sat back down on the bed and tried to take in as much detail of her surroundings as possible, just to be sure that it was, indeed, safe to leave.

Modest lighting… from firebeetle jars scattered about the room. Alarm bells then started to ring in Ursa's mind… Firebeetles were native to the Fire Nation, what would the people on this ship be doing with firebeetles? Unless they were…

Ursa felt her heart racing; she rose to her feet as soon as she felt she could stand and ambled her way towards the door. She felt herself fall to the floor suddenly as the door flung open, increasing the intensity of her migraine and making her yell out in pain.

Her vision was still blurred; she heard a man gasp and aimed for that location. She got up and punched, apparently hitting her target when she heard a grunt of pain. She found herself unable to continue when her wrists were locked in the man's hands. He forced her back onto the bed and pinned her down.

"What is the matter with you?" he asked in a stressed tone. That voice sounded familiar…

"M-Master Piandao?" Ursa asked, now able to make out the blurred features she once remembered.

"Yes, Piandao." He said, now sounding confused.

Ursa groaned, both from the pain in her head and embarrasment. "Oh my goodness, I am _so_ sorry… I thought you were-"

"It's… okay." Piandao replied, sighing soon afterwards. "You've been asleep for quite a long time; you must feel disoriented right now. I'm sorry, I should have knocked."

"I was scared." Ursa said. "This ship, I thought it was a Fire Nation ship. I thought you…"

"It is." Piandao said once he was sure Ursa had nothing else to say. "We're going back into the Fire Nation."

Ursa looked shocked upon hearing that. "Why?" she asked, panic in her voice.

Piandao frowned. "I thought you-"

But he was interrupted by a small cough from outside the door. Both Ursa and Piandao looked to the side. There was a large man there, carrying a wooden box. He looked as though he was just passing by.

"Err, Jin, shouldn't you maybe close the door before you and your wife get intimate?" the man asked, grinning.

Ursa frowned. "Excu-?"

"Our apologies!" Piandao interrupted, letting Ursa's wrists go while stepping off the futon. He turned to Ursa, his back to the man, and put a finger to his lips.

As Ursa tilted her head, keeping her frown, Piandao turned back to the stranger at the door. "I thought I'd shut that thing…"

The man just laughed and walked off. Piandao shut the door and walked back over to Ursa, sitting on the end of the bed.

"Piandao, what is going on?" Ursa asked, sitting up.

"Gen… got us onto this ship for free. It's a trade ship which is dropping goods off at Shu Jing, most conveniently. But in order to get us a free ride, he had to lie… he told the men on this ship that we are husband and wife; and that you are carrying a child." He whispered in a hushed tone.

There was a long, uncomfortable pause…

"I'm sorry… _what_?" Ursa exclaimed, frowning.

"Long story short…" Piandao replied. "Please, Ursa. It's the only way we'll be able to get off this ship without any trouble; I left all the gold behind."

Only one thought ran through Ursa's mind at that moment: How could Piandao be so stupid? But, she just had to sigh and shrug it off. What's done is done, after all… and she had to have faith in Piandao. After all, he had saved her life once and was probably about to save it again.

"Alright, but… How do I do this? Do I have to stuff a pillow, or…?" Ursa inquired, her eyes trailing down towards her stomach.

At this, Piandao couldn't help but laugh. "No, no, you're not supposed to be that heavily pregnant yet. Just the clothes you're wearing will do. If you're worried, however, by all means you can 'stuff a pillow'."

Ursa just smiled at that. "How long until we reach land?"

"It all depends… you've slept off most of the journey, I had to convince the traders you were sick as well as pregnant."

"Well, at least I don't have to lie about feeling sick…" Ursa murmured in a fatigued voice.

Piandao, noticing this, walked over to her bedside table and eyed the lantern that sat on top of it. "Are you hungry? You fell asleep before you could eat what Gen brought you…"

"No, don't worry… I'll probably just fall asleep again if I ask you to go and get something." Ursa replied.

Piandao suddenly picked up a paper bag from the other side of the bedside table. "Well, what if it was readily available to you?"

Ursa smiled and nodded. " Then that would change things… Thank you."

Piandao handed her the bag. "Most of the cooked food should still be warm. Take what you want, I'll eat the rest."

Ursa sat up and took some ash banana bread from the bag. "Thank you, for everything."

"It's really no problem." Piandao replied, gesturing to the bread soon afterwards. "Is that all you want?"

Ursa nodded, rubbing at her half-closed eyes. "I'm sorry, I'm really tired."

Piandao took a box out of the bag. "Don't worry. Like I said, I'll eat the rest."

Ursa mumbled a reply and nodded her head, eating the rest of the bread before lying back down on the bed again. "Piandao…?"

"Yes?" he replied

Turning around after receiving only a mumble for an answer, Piandao saw that she had instantly fallen asleep.

Shaking his head, he threw a nearby blanket over her, picked up the bag of food and walked towards the door.

"Pleasant dreams…" he murmured, before stepping into the hallway and closing the door behind him.

* * *

Ursa's eyes opened, _long_ after she had last fallen asleep, and her gaze focused until she could see properly… wait, she could _see_? _Properly_? How long had she been asleep? Judging from her stabbing hunger pains - which Ursa had just registered at that very moment - quite a long time. Had she made a full recovery…?

All she could remember were occasional times where Piandao had tried to wake her up to make sure she ate something.

Ursa tried to stand; her movements were stiff, most likely due to a lack of it, but there was progress.

Suddenly, the door opened; this scared her into falling back onto the bed she was laying asleep in mere moments ago. Sitting up slowly, she looked up and over to the unfamiliar man who had just entered the room.

"Ah, you're awake…" he murmured, not showing as much as a hint of emotion on his face. "You must be hungry."

Ursa nodded in an uneasy manner. "Where… am I?"

"Master Piandao's castle." The stranger replied, placing a strange collection of objects, all held up flat on an elaborate tray, on top of the bedside table. "I'll be right back with some breakfast, don't go anywhere my lady." And with that, the odd man left…

Ursa frowned and drew her legs up onto the bed. Was he the butler she remembered Piandao mention…?

The confused princess looked around, taking in every little detail of the room as though her sight may soon stop working as efficiently again… She hadn't seen a room as nice as this one since she was back at the palace; every piece of material looked like silk, and felt like silk now that she'd registered the feeling of touching her bedsheets. There were tables, cabinets and a wardrobe, each with their own collection of intricate designs. The room had been painted mahogany and the floor was, strangely enough, tiled with wood of the same type. The ceiling was painted in the same tone as the walls were and a single, modest chandelier hung from the centre of it.

Ursa then looked down as her own body, the torn and tortured dress had been removed and replaced with silk cloth, which had been tied up at the back of her neck and draped down to the length of her calves. Her wrists had also been bandaged… had the shackles damaged them? She'd never noticed…

Ursa waited in silence for another quarter of an hour before the stranger returned with what looked more like a three-course meal than breakfast… nevertheless, Ursa was starving and shrugged it off as she picked up the nearest edible item. It was all Fire Nation cuisine, too! Much like the food usually supplied at the palace… Ursa was going to miss this, but she knew she couldn't stay long.

"Thank you, this is so good!" Ursa eventually exclaimed to the stranger in gratitude. "Oh, I…" the princess them lowered what she was currently eating and gave a small smile. "I don't even know your name, I do apologise…"

The man merely nodded and answered with a single word, "Fat…"

There was a pause… "Excuse me?"

"Fat, I'm Piandao's butler." Fat stated clearly, slightly annoyed at Ursa's reaction but disguising it well thanks to his apathetic disposition.

"Ah…" Ursa nodded. "It's nice to meet you, Fat. Did Piandao tell you who I am?"

"Vaguely, Princess Ursa." He replied, gently holding onto her arm. "If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to check your wrists?"

Ursa nodded, and with that Fat unwrapped the bandages. Ursa's eyes widened at the sight of what was uncovered… fairly deep cuts, which even looked slightly infected!

Fat nodded. "This one is healing well… Hold your arm up, please. I'm going to apply some ointment; it will sting a little…"

Ursa did as instructed while she watched Fat soak a cloth, from the tray on the bedside table, in the contents from a strange, brown bottle. He turned back to her after a few moments. "Ready?"

Hmm, that was worrying… "Yes." She replied nonetheless.

"Well, if you say so…" the man replied.

In a split second after the cloth was placed on her wrist, Ursa yanked her arm back and hit Fat directly in the face. As Fat fell back, apparently not expecting that, Ursa clapped her hands to her mouth and gasped as she realised what she'd done.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-!" Ursa stuttered as she helped Fat back onto his feet.

"It's… okay." Fat replied, holding a hand up to assert his point while grabbing the fallen cloth.

Ursa drew back and sat on the bed. He sounded irritated; and so he should, she had just whacked him in the face!

"Fat?" another voice suddenly spoke out. Both of them were shocked into turning their heads and staring towards the door.

"What's going on?" Piandao asked, frowning.

"Nothing…" Fat replied. "Just an accident, I was trying to apply some ointment to her wrists but apparently… it's too much while she's awake." He continued, choosing his words carefully as he rubbed the side of his face.

Ursa looked to the side, chagrined. "I'm really sorry…"

Piandao just smiled. "Oh dear… Well, no harm done. Right Fat?"

"None at all…" Fat replied. Ursa still couldn't translate his tone, and thus didn't know whether he really meant that or not…

"How are you feeling?" Piandao asked, then turning to Ursa.

"Much better, thank you." Ursa replied, letting Fat wrap her wrists up in bandages again.

"Ah, excellent." Piandao replied. "Zeljar has been scratching at this door ever since we got here; I think we might even have to replace it…" he then added, his tone hinting at annoyance.

"Zeljar…? I remember you mentioning him." Ursa said.

Piandao nodded. "If you are able to stand, I'd be more than happy to give you a tour of the castle. You'll probably see him along the way… in fact, you're unlikely to miss him."

After Fat had finished with Ursa's wrists, she thanked him, apologized yet _again_ and stood to her feet. She felt unstable, naturally, but after a few moments she was upright and able to walk at a steady pace.

Piandao nodded with a smile. "There are shoes at the end of your bed. I'm ready when you are."

* * *

_**Has anyone ever been stuck for two or three weeks after almost finishing a chapter? Well, that's what happened to me. heh**_

_**Well, it's finally up despite everything! I hope you like it.**_

* * *

_**I do not own Avatar, fortunately.**_


	16. Kail

Ursa could barely keep up with the old Swordmaster as they both toiled the castle hallways. Both because Ursa was still weak on her feet, and because she couldn't help but look around in awe at her surroundings… his own DIY handiwork.

"You made all of this…?" the banished princess asked him, walking over to an elaborate vase and inspecting its intricate detail.

Piandao nodded. "It was far from easy."

"I should imagine so… It's all amazing." Ursa replied earnestly. True, the castle was showing signs of disrepair and dilapidation, and there were still a few works-in-progress… but how could one man have made all of this?

"Thank you very much." Piandao replied with a smile while opening a large door.

Ursa shielded her eyes as light poured through the open doorway. When she felt comfortable, she opened her eyes and looked around. Her eyes got wider and wider as she took more and more detail in. The strange statues of a creature she recognised from old scripts her father once read with her; the space, the distant view…

"I'm glad I can see again…" Ursa mumbled, looking up into the sky as though she expected to find something there as well.

Piandao gave a brief chuckle. "Don't jinx it." He replied before turning to his faithful butler.

"Fat, would you please fetch me a glass of watermelon juice? Ursa, do you want anything?" Piandao then offered.

"Oh, um… can I have the same as Piandao, please?" Ursa replied, still entranced by her surroundings. How wonderful it was to be able to see again! Even more so to wake up to surroundings like this…

Suddenly, a deep snarl caught her attention as a large animal emerged from a collection of bamboo poles. Ursa had never seen any animal so large, not since the boar-q-pine anyway… It was covered in fur, which didn't particularly help to disguise its morbid obesity or menacing glare. Ursa froze on the spot…

The monster approached, and just as Ursa was about to back away, Piandao walked beside her. "Ursa, this is Zeljar." He explained; patting the beast's head as it walked over to him.

Oh! He clearly belonged to Piandao, what a relief…

"Zeljar… what is he?" Ursa asked, brave enough to reach out and feel the creature's fur by running a hand across the top of its head. Amusingly enough, it then began to purr although it kept it's defiantly suspicious expression.

Ursa stifled a laugh at this as Piandao replied. "Zeljar… is a giant white liger."

A white liger…? _Domesticated_? Wait…

"I thought they were extinct…?" the female present replied in awe, looking back at the older man.

Piandao gave a sad sigh. "Sadly, I have not seen another liger-besides this one-since I was young. Zeljar here appears to be the last of his kind."

"Well he seems… healthy." Ursa bit her lip as she said this. She knew from study that ligers were meant to be rather thickset, but this liger looked morbidly obese! While she was mulling this over in her head, Ursa then ran a hand across a rather curious, faded tattoo bearing the number 6 hidden among the jungle of fur on his back. This brought back a faded memory from her childhood… she just couldn't fathom exactly what this memory was, though.

"I've seen this before… Wait! Why does he seem so familiar?" Ursa inquired with a frown.

Piandao smiled, as though he'd been waiting for the curious princess to ask that question. "Well, he should. After all, you did rescue him from the circus."

Ursa initially seemed unsure after being told this information. "I… oh!" Of course! It almost seemed like a grand adventure when she was little, how could she have forgotten about it? Maybe her age was affecting her more than she knew?

That giant liger was once the little cub she and her friends 'stole' from the zoo… there was a circus troupe touring Ember Island for a few days one week, a circus which Lo & Li had insisted on attending. She remembered the pudgy face of a little white liger cub as if she had only just seen it yesterday… sad, afraid and wallowing in misery, trapped inside a cage. Apparently, the cub was 'the last of his kind'. During his show, the ringmaster had forced him to perform tricks alone in front of a wide audience.

In Ursa's mind, she could then picture a much younger version of herself looking back at the creature with sadness and pity. At the time, he was a new addition, and he was scared. He had no family, nobody to relate to… Ursa knew exactly what this felt like. Like nervous, trapped prey, the liger then began to lightly scratch at the cage bars. It was like a hopeless cry for help… it wasn't right, and Ursa never would have forgiven herself if she hadn't freed the creature that very night.

"You must have been in Shu Jing when you saw that circus; I got a basket containing Zeljar and a note from a certain 'Blue Spirit' detailing exactly what happened." Piandao replied as he smiled at Ursa's shocked expression.

"How did you know that was me?" she asked in awe.

"I have my sources… and I saw you and your friends knock on the door that day and hide in the bushes afterwards. Eventually, I got my answer from an old merchant you'd also met that day."

"Oh, I… wow."

Zeljar then began to walk back over to Ursa, squinting and looking over her as though she were somewhat familiar to him. Although nervous, Ursa stood her ground and took a deep breath. The next thing she knew, the feline beast nudged her to the ground and opened its mouth.

Fat then, somehow, already walked back with the drinks. His eyes widened at the horrific scene. "_Uh_, sir-!"

He then paused completely as Zeljar licked and then nuzzled Ursa's face. She then gave a laugh of relief and wrapped her arms around the creature's full mane, embracing it in a hug.

Quirking a brow, Fat turned to Piandao. "What's going on?"

"I assume she'll tell you the full details soon enough, but for now…" Piandao then took hold of one of the glasses and lifted it from the shocked servant's tray, holding the tray steady from its base to balance it as Fat was too busy staring in shock at their new royal house guest, who was now on her feet, stroking their dangerous, vicious liger's head as though it were nothing and Zeljar responding alike. "Thank you. Is something wrong?"

Once the shock had subsided, Fat soon steadied himself and the tray he was holding. "I have _never_ seen that liger take to someone so quickly, it even tried to eat _me_ for quite some time when I started working for you! Wait… unless he's pretending?" he then asked while giving a suspicious glance.

Piandao simply rolled his eyes in amusement, took Ursa's glass from the tray and replied, "Fat, somehow I don't think that a white liger would _pretend_ to like someone just to eat them in their sleep later on. Would we still be alive if that were the case?"

"No comment…" Fat replied, glaring warily at the giant liger while he trudged away with an empty tray.

* * *

A moonless night fell across the town of Shu Jing and the castle was plunged into darkness. Ursa, being the only person present in the castle with firebending abilities, had decided to help Piandao out by lighting a few of the lanterns outside. Slowly, light began to surround the castle and everything from the grass to the swarming fireflies became visible once again.

Proud, although surprised, by her quick firebending work, Ursa headed towards a tree present in the grounds. She then stopped in her tracks upon noticing an unknown presence, not too far away from where she was lighting those lanterns moments ago… A young boy, around Zuko's age, stopped to light the last lantern Ursa lit before he felt her presence there as well; his facial features plagued with confusion before his eyes trailed into the grounds and saw Ursa looking back at him.

There was an uncomfortable silence in the atmosphere, everything but the sound of a single owlcat and the new spring winds rustling the trees remained dead still. Just to break the awkward silence, Ursa decided to speak. "Uh, hello… do you live here?"

The young boy also decided to speak; however, he didn't exactly answer her question. "Who are you, what are you doing here?"

Ursa also decided not to fully answer his question; she was under the careful assumption that he may be an intruder as much as he was under the careful assumption that she was. "I'm a friend of Piandao's; he's letting me stay here in the castle."

The boy frowned again in confusion. "Then… wait, are you the sick woman Master Piandao brought back to the castle?"

Ursa smiled and let her guard down significantly; she'd obviously been bedridden for a while, how else would he know about this unless he was already living there? "Yes, my name is Ursa."

"Ursa?" the name seemed familiar to him, but he still wasn't sure that he could trust her. As if on cue, Piandao's pet liger wandered over and brushed his side against Ursa's like a domesticated squirrelcat might do to someone's ankles, nearly knocking her to the floor.

The young boy then relaxed and smiled also. "So, you know Zeljar?"

Ursa nodded, "I rescued him from the zoo when I was around your age."

"Oh wow, really?" the young boy replied, shocked. "So how did he end up with Piandao? Oh! Sorry, my name is Kail. I'm training under Master Piandao to fight with swords."

"Training you to fight? With swords, professionally? But… you're so young!" Ursa exclaimed, looking somewhat horrified upon hearing this.

Then again, Azula had been taught competitive firebending by her father from the age of 3, so how was this really any different…?

Kail chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I'm… pretty lucky, really." The two firebenders walked out onto the grounds as he continued to talk. "Master Piandao knew my parents, you see…" he then trailed off, with a saddened expression suddenly weaving its way onto his face.

Sensing the young man's hesitation to continue and explain, Ursa-despite being a firm believer in talking your problems out-decided to avoid a potentially awkward and upsetting situation and followed on to the conversation with another relevant subject. "He then took you in until you could make your own way in the world?"

"Mhm…" Kail murmured while nodding. "And 'cause I've just always wanted to learn how to fight with a sword, and fight with something other than my firebending; like my brother can."

"Does he stay here too?" Ursa inquired, yet again.

Kail shook his head as they both sat by the tall cherry blossom tree-which had begun to sprout leaves, marking the dawn of spring. "We went our separate ways… so he could see the rest of the world." Kail trailed off with the last sentence yet again, glancing to the side this time. "So, uh, how do you know Piandao?"

"Through my parents, too." Ursa replied, while trying to copy the way Kail was sitting so she didn't accidentally clue him in on her past royal lifestyle through her body language and mannerisms. "It's strange; our parents could be of a similar age. How old are you, if you don't mind me asking? I think I have a son around your age."

Kail tried not to frown at the strange way she was sitting for a woman of her age. "Uh…thirteen…" Oh, so he was older than Zuko… "How old are you?"

Slightly taken aback by the question, mostly due to _forgetting_ her age after all that had happened, Ursa fished around in her memory for a recollection of that personal fact. "Twenty-eight this summer."

Kail frowned. "Really?" There was a pause. "And you have a 13-year-old son?"

"Uh! No, no, he's actually only eleven; you just look around his age." Ursa exclaimed, panicked by the thought of what the kid must now think of her… _more so_ after telling him he looked like an 11-year-old. So, naturally, she began to reel off the remainder of her 'list' of children. "I also have a 9-year-old daughter."

"That's it, right?" Kail joked, grinning cheekily at her reaction. "Sorry, just joking."

This kid definitely had a past life…

"Excuse me; I'll have you know that the reason behind having my kids at such an age is because my husband loved kids too much." Ursa retorted, pouting. For some reason, she could never bring herself to seriously exert authority over children other than their own or their close friends-Mai and Ty Lee came to mind-let alone take this particular one too seriously.

"Whatever you say." Kail replied, smiling.

Ursa interlaced her fingers and exhaled while resting her chin on her knuckles. "Actually, you remind me of my nephew…" she then glanced at him. "Stop it."

Kail just grinned back. "I'm not your kid, lady, so you're not the boss o' me."

"Oh, we'll see about _that_, young man." Ursa replied, scattering ashes across the floor with her foot. Not enough to hurt Kail, but enough to scare him into standing.

"Agh! Hey, no fair, that was a sneak attack!" Kail exclaimed, pointing straight at Ursa. "AND you're old, so you've had at least _50_ years more practise than me!"

Ursa gasped in mock indignation. "OH, well! I bet my 50 years of firebending experience can beat your four months!"

Kail chuckled and quirked his brow. "Oh yeah? It's an Agni Kai, then?" he asked, getting into a fighting stance.

"What…?" Ursa asked in utter confusion. "_Heavens_, no! That's far too dangerous!"

"Aww! It's only a duel to the death! Okay, no, but seriously, I haven't met a girl firebender before, so I _really_ wanna know how good you are and how well you can fight!" Kail bantered on, his eyes almost twinkling with his fists clenched in excitement.

"Uh… sort of and… does self-defence count as proper fighting?" Ursa replied meekly, with a shy grin to match.

"… Self defence?" Kail lowered his arms in vague disappointment. "But, you said you could beat me."

"Oh, I was only kidding around, Kail…" Ursa explained, hugging her arms and wearing a forlorn expression as though disappointed in herself.

Kail saw this and immediately wanted to cheer her up. "Well, what kind of fighting do you know?"

"Not a lot…" Ursa mused. "I'm studying chi-blocking, though." She still, miraculously, had the gifted scroll tucked away in the old dress Hama had given her while she stayed with the innkeeper; along with the portrait of her family. "But… even then, I can't actually _use_ chi-blocking at all."

Come to think of it… this was the second time she had been given a home after being rescued. What would Piandao think of her if she told him about her last night at the palace? Surely, the same thing with Hama would not result…

"Kail, will you teach me how to fight?" Ursa asked, looking back at Kail as he looked on in confusion at this new 'non-fighting firebender'.

There was a pause. "Really? Me, teach you?"

Ursa nodded. "Please. I'm… really not that good, and I need your help."

The boy smiled enthusiastically; the thought of being able to help someone-something he'd never been able to do before-really brightened his mood. "Sure I will!"

He then jumped up and got into a firebending stance. "Wanna start now?"

"Uh…" Ursa's eyes widened. This boy was so confident, a personality factor that further distinguished him from her son and reminded her more of Lu-Ten. She then smiled and nodded. "Sure!"

She stood to her feet, awaiting the first firebending lesson she'd had in a long, long time-and the first firebending lesson she'd receive from someone nearly half her age.

* * *

The next day, a clear baby blue sky filled the atmosphere of Shu Jing. The warm weather and bright, light morning had compelled Fat to extinguish the fires Kail & Ursa had lit the night before.

Meanwhile, the other inhabitants of the house were seated inside the highest room in the tallest tower. Kail was brushing Zeljar's moulting fur, while Piandao was indulged in a game of Pai Sho with Ursa.

Soon enough, Piandao turned from the board to look back at his teenage pupil. "Kail, I think you might do a better job of stripping Zeljar's fur if you tried giving him a bath instead."

At the mention of this suggestion, Kail's face fell. Clearly, Zeljar was far from easy to bathe. Ursa couldn't help but chuckle and lean over the board to offer a helping hand. "Maybe I could help?"

But Piandao interjected. "No-no, that's quite alright. We need to finish this game, anyway."

Kail bravely-though hesitantly-got up and walked off with Zeljar while also carrying the grooming brushes. "Yes, Master Piandao… Bye Ursa, thanks for offering to help!"

"Bye Kail, good luck!" Ursa replied, smiling and waving as he left before turning back to the game and moving one of her tiles.

After Kail had shut the door, Piandao must have waited around ten seconds before glancing up at Ursa and taking the hand he was hovering over his choice Pai Sho tile away and back against his side.

"I see you're already acquainted with Kail?" Piandao replied, guiding his hand over to a small cup of tea on the side of the board, picking it up and drinking from it.

Ursa nodded. "We met last night. I thought I'd try lighting some of the lanterns for you, but apparently that was his job…"

"Oh, well thank you kindly. It is going to be rather useful having two firebenders around the castle." Piandao replied, studying the board. "How are you both getting along?"

"He sort of looks like my son…" Ursa mused, with a hint of nostalgia in her voice. "Although, he is very spirited… like my late nephew. But it's no wonder; I haven't seen that much firebending talent since my daughter's demonstration to Azulon."

Piandao nodded. "Agreed… He'll go far someday, he's yet another firebending prodigy to keep an eye out for, much like your daughter." Piandao then finished his tea before continuing. "Ursa, I sent Kail away just now because I wanted to talk to you alone… about Kail; but also to ask you why exactly you're wandering the Fire Nation, too. As well as how you ended up on that ship in the hands of pirates, if I may so boldly inquire?"

Ursa's eyes had been focused on Piandao's from the sentence 'I wanted to talk to you alone' as though he'd _already_ asked if she'd murdered Azulon. She'd hardly heard the flurry of questions that had come her way after that phrase. Swallowing and awkwardly glancing to the side, she then finally cleared her throat and spoke up after taking an extended period of time to think up her response, due to feeling so nervous. "Can we talk about Kail first, please? I'm really curious…"

Piandao nodded. "Of course, as you wish."

"He seems hesitant to talk to me about his parents… is there a reason for that?" Ursa inquired, sitting back slightly.

Piandao, surprisingly enough, grimaced… Ursa frowned in return, waiting for an answer. She eventually got what she wished for…

"Kail's parents were murdered… by a group of Fire Nation soldiers."

Ursa looked back at Piandao, shocked. Not only because Fire Nation soldiers apparently murdered their _own_ people-well, she was one to talk… but, because they'd murdered a child's parents…

'Could those soldiers have anything to do with Xing Hai?' she suddenly thought, soon unsure of exactly why she'd even _thought_ to think of this shortly afterwards.

"Kail came to me, an old family friend, seeking refuge and tutelage in the way of the sword… to better defend himself, I'm guessing, particularly while separated from his brother.

Normally, I would not teach my skills to anyone-let alone a boy of his age-however… people in need, and people who are worthy, will always have my full trust and support."

"You're a good person, Piandao." Ursa replied with a smile. "I'm not sure if I ever did thank you for saving my life back there…?"

"I'm certain you did, but… you're welcome, regardless." Piandao replied with a smile to match hers.

What was it, exactly, that made her speak up like she did after this? Guilt? Obligation? A slight sense of ease… all three, perhaps? Either way, she still felt extremely nervous once she did eventually gather the courage to speak up.

"I'm ready to tell you about why I'm out of the palace now… and, why I'm not supposed to be in the Fire Nation." Ursa somehow remembered that she'd had that conversation concerning her banishment with the old Swordmaster and their carriage driver, just after he'd saved her from the pirates.

Thankful that she'd finally spoken up, Piandao smiled again and set the Pai Sho board aside before he placed his hands flat on the table. "I'm all ears, Ursa."

* * *

"Jing, are we there yet?" a small voice whimpered from the back of the line of black-clad figures trudging along a town on the outskirts of the Fire Nation.

"Shut up, Miyuki!" Jing replied curtly, stomping into the ground and earthbending a chickenpig into a nearby wall out of ill temper.

Miyuki cringed as it cawed in surprise and pain, dropping unconscious to the floor. "_Aww_, the poor birdie!"

"_Sweet_, lunch!" Chai exclaimed, picking the disoriented bird up by its legs. "Thanks, Jing!"

Jing didn't bother to grace him with a reply. Instead, she decided to continue on with a new, rather more critical topic of conversation which-judging from Miyuki's pouty expression-had come up on more than one occasion before.

"I can't believe you 'lost' the letter from those pirates; you're such an idiot! Now Xing Hai is furious, we're all hungry and we're one step _backwards_ from completing our mission!"

Miyuki heaved a sigh, looking miserable. "How many times do I have to say I'm _sorry_?"

"_Sorry_ won't solve our problems!" Jing yelled back at her. She then ran her hands through her shoulder-length hair and groaned. "Why am I always surrounded by _idiots_?"

Miyuki raised her right index finger. "Well, Xing Hai said he was 'grouping us all together in similar batches', so-"

"Hole, Miyuki, hole…" Chai murmured, just as the ninja's bald captain walked over.

"Captain Mari…" Jing announced with a bow, eye initially twitching in annoyance at Chai's audible snickering behind her. Annoyance soon turned into an evil smirk when the unconscious chickenpig woke up and attacked the sandy-haired earthbender, previously planning on cooking and eating it later on. As Chai struggled with the boisterous animal, Jing continued to speak while paying Chai and the chickenpig no further mind. "Are there any further updates on our mission?"

Mari, after sparing a few seconds to frown at Chai's miserable failure at subduing an attacking miniature farm animal, shook his head. "Not as it stands… same as always, we are unsure of the Kyoshi lineage. Princess Ursa and her children remain live targets and the air Avatar has been unconfirmed for just over 107 years now…"

"Do you think the cycle broke? I mean, the Avatar wasn't reborn into any of the Water Tribes, not even my own tribe in the north, and the air Avatar wasn't ever announced by name." Miyuki spoke up, her eyes wide, arms straight and her fingers interlaced in front of her.

"The air nomads were wiped out 95 years ago. Subtract that from the time we've _not_ had an Avatar, and the air Avatar would have been 12 years old at the time of their death. If the Avatar was even born into the air nomads, at all." Mari then replied.

"The Avatar is long gone…" Jing then decided to join in the conversation. "Unfortunately, the Avatar's relatives _aren't_…"

After an rather uncomfortable silence, Mari sighed and turned to face the entire group. "Alright everyone, take the rest of the day off. We'll continue searching for the imposter and the princess tomorrow morning."

Miyuki and Chai seemingly jumped at the chance for a break and rushed off elsewhere. Jing, however, stayed.

"Didn't you hear me?" Mari replied, frowning. "You can take the day off."

Jing nodded. "Of course, sir, thank you. But... we can't afford to waste any time. The princess is still out there somewhere, I know it!

Mari, appearing as though he was at his wit's end, merely sighed and said. "Very well… carry on. But don't be late for role call tomorrow morning."

And with that, the two earthbenders turned and went their separate ways.

* * *

The sun had concealed itself behind the clouds by the time Ursa had finished relaying the events of the past six months to Piandao.

The expression on Piandao's face was difficult to read… what exactly was he thinking? He appeared concerned, naturally, but did that mean he was concerned for Ursa… or fearing for his life?

"Whatever course of action you take after this, I completely understand. I can't thank you enough for your help and hospitality." Ursa stood up and bowed while she thanked Piandao, but as she turned to leave… an emotionless voice interjected.

"Sit back down, Ursa…"

Ursa turned back, looking confused.

Piandao nodded.

Apprehensive, Ursa nevertheless did as he commanded.

"I understand that you must feel terrible shame for your actions that night…" Piandao replied.

"I'm not proud of myself, no…" Ursa replied, looking down. "It's one of the worst things I've ever done…"

"_One_ of the worst?" Piandao quirked a brow.

"Up there in the top three…" Ursa murmured meekly, deliberately failing to elaborate.

Piandao reflectively closed his eyes and interlaced his fingers for a moment before he caught Ursa's eye directly. "You _should_ be proud of yourself."

Ursa looked straight back at Piandao's gaze, utterly confused.

"You put not only your honour, but your _life_, on the line for the sake of your son. Even when it went against your own principles. What you did that say was truly selfless, and you have my full respect for it." Piandao said, smiling kindly once again.

Ursa couldn't help but smile back; though it was not a fully sincere smile. "I'm just not sure… if I really _did_ do the right thing."

"That is completely natural. Taking another's life if never something you just get used to; but it is a necessary evil to protect what you love, and sometimes even to uphold what you truly believe in. While your guilt may be overwhelming you now, time really does heal all wounds." Piandao replied earnestly.

Ursa sighed, but tried to keep smiling regardless. "I hope so…"

"For now, you clearly need refuge, so you are more than welcome to stay here." Piandao then continued, nodding.

Ursa stopped smiling. She loved the idea of, and was also extremely grateful to, be staying in the castle of the legendary Swordmaster Piandao… however, something was plaguing her… this nagging voice in her head, telling her that she _must_ stay with Piandao and Kail because she wasn't strong enough to defend herself. That same voice had come into play back when she'd asked Kail to teach her to firebend. That's when it hit her! Her eyes widened…

"Master Piandao, can I…?" Ursa trailed off, a sliver of self-doubt suddenly holding her back. Could she really do this?

"Yes?" Piandao replied. "Can you what?"

"I…" In the end, Ursa sighed and took a deep breath. "I want to learn to sword fight, from you. If you'll teach me, of course?"

Taken aback, Piandao looked Ursa straight in the eye with a solemn expression on his face.

"Ursa… learning the way of the sword is not an easy task."

Ursa nodded. "I understand… but, neither will be living a life in banishment. I need to learn how to defend myself, in any way possible and with any means necessary. I'm not comfortable with relying on help from you, a-and others all the time. I want to-I _need_ to, become more than just some helpless princess waiting to be rescued by people who are stronger and wiser than I am. Please, Piandao… I need this."

There was an extended silence within the room after Ursa's speech… eventually broken as Piandao finished the last of his tea and stood to his feet. "We begin at dusk. Until then, be sure to prepare yourself… for it will be a long, long first training session. Am I clear?"

Looking elated, Ursa managed to eventually regain her composure long enough to give her reply. "_Yes_, of course, thank you so much!" she then stopped to bow respectfully in gratitude. "Really, I know this must be so much trouble for you-"

Piandao smiled. "Oh no, it's not a problem at all. Just don't be late; you'll get no special treatment from me as a student just because you're exiled royalty."

Ursa then laughed, to which Piandao responded with a stern, "No, seriously, I won't…"

Ursa stopped laughing and immediately looked to the side with a nervous expression on her face. "I understand, Master Piandao… completely. I can deal with that." She replied, grinning awkwardly.

Though she fully understood that this was just a disciplinary tactic Piandao was using… _could_ she, considering everything she had before her banishment, genuinely deal with it?

* * *

A figure, shadowed by the moonless night sky, jumped the atmosphere like a leopard-monkey searching for food. The black-clad figure eventually reached his destination: the top of a mountain he was working his way up through the entire time. He then removed his mask, revealing himself to be Chai of Xing Hai's ninjas.

"Hey, Jing, you up here?" He called out, aimlessly wandering the mountain top. Eventually, he stopped upon noticing a reclining figure near the opposing edge-from where he had landed previously-of the mountain. He rushed over and made to put his hand on her shoulder to nudge her awake.

"Don't bother,"-Chai jumped, the lounging figure continued speaking-"I'm awake and I know you're here."

"Jing, you're not gonna find the princess laying down on the job like that." Chai commented, quirking his brow.

"I know that, you idiot!" Jing snapped back, turning to face him while sitting up to glare at him as she spoke.

"Something's been bothering me all day…" she continued, relaxing vocally and mentally while returning to her original position.

Chai sat down beside her as she did this, staring at the scattered sea of lights created by the various small villages below. "Yeah…? Wanna talk about it?"

"Well, it's that we have no idea who Kyoshi's descendants are…" Jing replied, sounding as though she was deep in thought.

"Can't ever switch off, can you?" Chai also replied, soon cowering in fear when he was met by Jing's angry face soon afterwards. "Not that that's not a _good_ thing!" He chuckled nervously. "But seriously… that is kinda worrying. Yangchen's children never married outside of the air nomads, as far as we know, so they're finished… Kuruk never married, and we've dealt with everyone before those two."

"Besides Kyoshi's possible bloodline, we then exterminated Roku's three children… along with the youngest child's wife and eldest child… which leaves his youngest, her two children and the current Avatar, if there even is an Avatar anymore… it all seems too easy." Jing mused, interlacing her fingers and resting her chin on her knuckles.

"Easy how, exactly? The princess has been our hardest target yet!" Chai couldn't help but exclaim. "We've been searching for her for like half a year now."

"Yeah, well it won't be for much longer." Jing then smirked, her expression soon accompanied by an almost evil glint in her eye "Despite what she might think, she can't hide from us forever."

* * *

**Hi everyone! I finally got these chapters finished, I'll be uploading Chapter 17 in a couple of hours or so. I'm sorry I took so long despite promising a number of dates, I have no underground phone line at my new house, luck would have it. Hence, no broadband. Either way, I'll try and get newer chapters submitted within fortnightly periods and, hopefully, get this new and improved version of Royalty back on track!**

**To all the people who still follow this story, like this story and/or have gained enough interest to drop by and read it again, I can not thank you enough! I hope you can all hang on for a little bit longer before I continue to update permanently again. I am also considering rewriting the first 15 chapters, so I would like to know what you-the readers-think of this, provided you have the time to review? Thank you!**

**Avatar: The Last Airbender and all trademarked characters belong to Bryke, Nickelodeon and Viacom.**

**Kail and his brother belong to a good friend and writing partner of mine, Denten, who's kindly let me write him into the story after the character's significant involvement in planning this beast of a story out.**


	17. Enlightenment

The hot, mid-summer sun rose to greet the western hemisphere and wasted no time in showering the atmosphere of Shu Jing with blinding sunlight which worked its way over to Swordmaster Piandao's castle.

Ursa lay fast asleep, sprawled out on her bed with the covers seemingly carelessly thrown on top of her as though she'd just dropped onto the bed the previous night from total exhaustion.

She'd been living in a house full of boys for 10 months now. Training in both the art of sword fighting and the art of firebending from two exceptional teachers… Swordmaster Piandao and 14-year-old child prodigy Kail, respectively.

The hours had been long and tough, and there was never truly such a thing as a 'break' considering Piandao's butler-Fat-could not possibly take care of an entire castle himself with four people and a liger living there.

Oh yeah… and a peacock rooster…

Ursa twitched as the piercing cry from the irritating pest in question made its morning alarm call. Right in her left ear.

"Hey, sis, time to get up!" a maturing voice called out to her from her bedroom door.

"Go away…" she murmured, covering her head with her pillow.

One disadvantage to training under two disciplines was that by the end of the day, Ursa was usually so exhausted that she became near impossible to wake up the next morning.

"Come on, don't be like that! There's never a better time to train your firebending skills than an early summer morning." Kail spoke audibly while removing the pillow from her head.

"There is _always_ a better time to train than in the morning…" Ursa murmured grumpily, burying her face in the bed.

"Come on, Ursa, _please_. We have chores, anyway…" Kail tried one last time, leaning over the side of the bed and pouting.

Moments later, Kail smiled triumphantly as he got his wish and the disgruntled ex-princess physically forced herself to sit up, whipping her hair back out of her face as she stretched her arms towards the ceiling.

"You're so grouchy in the mornings lately…" Kail commented, folding his arms over the end of her bed and shaking his head.

" Wait until _you_ start approaching your 30's, then you'll find out why…" Ursa replied in a deadpan tone of voice, standing to her feet. "Give me a few minutes to get dressed and ready, I'll meet you outside."

"Sure." Kail nodded and rushed out of Ursa's room.

* * *

Ursa walked out of the bathhouse half an hour later, fully dressed but with a soaked head of hair. She grabbed a towel from the inside of the door and then proceeded to rub her hair dry with it before using a swift heating technique-learned through her ten months of firebending lessons-to near-instantly, completely dry her hair.

That's when she noticed Fat standing there and glaring at her. "You were supposed to feed the liger when the sun rose."

"Zeljar doesn't usually wake up until mid-day, the food would go cold by that time." Ursa replied curtly.

Fat simply rolled his eyes. "I didn't ask for pet food etiquette, Ursa, just… feed him already, so he stops scratching at the kitchen door."

"Very well, I suppose I stand corrected…" Ursa murmured irritably, walking past the glaring butler and towards the kitchens.

Out of all the inhabitants of the castle, Ursa had found her personality to clash the most with Piandao's esteemed butler, Fat. His compulsive need for utter, orderly control over household chores-and those obligated to perform household chores-versus Ursa's apathetic and almost laidback attitude towards it all had developed into an unhealthy, disrespectful working relationship over the past few months that Ursa was sure-and apprehensive that-Piandao would notice soon enough.

After feeding the giant feline which, as Fat had quite rightfully said, was busy christening the kitchen doors with its blunt yet powerful claws… Ursa met with Kail at their usual training spot; the cliff above the waterfall, just within the endless castle grounds.

"Sorry I'm a bit late, got held up by the butler again!" Ursa called out as she spotted Kail looking out over the edge of the cliff at the stunning scene ahead.

"Sis, you gotta stop ticking Fat off like that; it's not your place, you know?" Kail replied, looking back at her.

Initially galled at being called out in such a way, Ursa just sighed after sparing a moment to think her actions over. "You're probably right, but… I can't help it. The way he talks to you and treats Zeljar…"

"Just don't let it bother you, it's not worth it." Kail then stood to his feet and clapped his hands together to signify the start of the lesson. "Anyway, I'm kinda curious to see how you do with some of the lower-advanced forms on your own, so… I'll let you go nuts right after you try this technique I learned from my brother."

Kail then stepped away from the cliff and, once he'd gained some distance, jumped and kicked two powerful fireballs-the last after a 360 degree turn-before landing and watching the blasts disintegrate into the horizon.

Kail then glanced to the side and grinned cheekily. "It's a little hard at first, so… don't get frustrated like you usually do if you don't get it right off the bat-"

Kail was soon stunned into utter silence when Ursa performed the technique perfectly on-what he saw as-her first ever attempt.

"_Whoa_, you did it!" Kail exclaimed, eyes wide in disbelief.

"Well, don't sound so surprised…" Ursa replied with a pout, she then smiled warmly. "Obviously, you taught me well."

"You're learning so quickly! It takes years to master the basics once you start training your firebending, you only took about six months!"

"That's not an amazing amount of time, Kail…" Ursa replied modestly. "Truthfully, I had the experience before, anyway."

You mean you started learning firebending before learning from me?" Kail asked, feeling somewhat forlorn but trying not to show it.

Ursa nodded. "We had private tutors at the-" she then, barely, managed to stop herself before she indulged in her past identity, something she had not yet decided to reveal to her young firebending sifu. "… Where I used to live."

Kail frowned, slightly suspicious. "S'at so? Where was that?"

"The-uh-_a_ firebending academy for girls, I… boarded there when I was around your age." Ursa replied, smiling awkwardly.

Eventually, after a short while of just frowning, Kail softened his expression and shrugged. "Okay. So, uh, what kinda level did you reach?"

For some reason, Ursa then looked down and hugged her arms. "I, um, was told that I could master firebending by the time I was 18 if I kept training…"

Kail's eyes widened. "Yeah, and? So, why am I-of all people-teaching you?"

"Because… I didn't master firebending, Kail. I gave it up and I slowly started to… sort of _forget_ the proper forms." Ursa replied, feeling more and more uneasy by the dreaded, approaching question with each second…

"_Why_? Why'd you just quit like that?" Kail exclaimed, almost as though he was angry at her choice to do so.

Ursa closed her eyes, as though pained by an unhappy memory. "I really hurt someone, Kail… someone who didn't really deserve it, at all. I have other reasons too, but… that was the main one."

Kail backed off a little and sat on a nearby rock, opposing another rock that Ursa also had sat on moments after he'd sat down.

"Do you… wanna talk about it?" Kail asked, appearing concerned.

After an empty silence, Ursa looked up and started to speak. "When I was young… an orphaned girl called Sen-Li robbed our school's town on a weekly basis and never, ever got caught.

Nobody even knew the identity of the girl behind the thefts, let alone her name; you see, she covered her face with a veil. One day, I met her and befriended her while wandering the town on my own.

I didn't know she was behind the thefts, and I doubt I would have cared, I just… really related to that girl, the way her parents were murdered by firebenders. I also sympathized with her as well as empathized, she had no one to turn to-whereas I had my entire school."

Kail found himself inadvertently nodding solemnly. "I'm sorry about your parents…"

Upon hearing this, Ursa began to feel bad about this made-up firebending academy for girls that she was fooling him with; truthfully, she had private tutors at the palace and the company of Azulon, his boys, his grandson, the servants, maids and the occasional, dreaded visit from Zhao. The girl and the _events_ of the story per se, however, were all true.

Regardless, Ursa continued the story after a short pause to catch her breath. "One day, she'd clearly followed me home-back to the school-and she attempted to rob items of value from there too. I'd found out that… that she'd murdered one of the school's security men… or at least, it was treated as a murder. She'd pleaded with me that it was all an accident, but I didn't believe her.

I was too upset at being used like that… I didn't know the murdered man that well, but I was also angry for him. For the wife and children he'd left behind. I was 15 years old at the time, but I showed absolutely no mercy on that girl. I attacked her until she went limp, until I'd disfigured her appearance completely and I then left her there in agony… thinking I'd shown honor by not killing her in the process.

I was praised by everyone for what I did that day; after the authorities connected her to the recent robberies and arrested her. But, I know that what I did was a horrible thing. I started to attend my lessons less and less, and then I vowed to stop firebending completely on my 16th birthday, when I married my boyfriend."

"I- …" Kail's voice spoke up, but then trailed off after a long silence signaled the end of Ursa's story. "I don't know what to say."

"Look, Kail… I'm not the person you seem to think I am, I…"Ursa bit her lip, looking away as she went glassy-eyed. "I can be a true monster if you bring out the worst in me."

Suddenly, Kail stood to his feet while wearing a brooding expression on his face. Convinced that he was about to walk off and leave her to fester on her troubled emotions, Ursa bit her lip as her tears started to flow freely.

However, she ended up gasping when the young teenager walked over and hugged her tightly. This lasted briefly, as he backed away after he'd untangled the hug.

"I don't think you're a monster, just… please don't stop coming to our lessons, okay? I've never been able to help anyone before, not even Master Piandao…" Kail pleaded, appearing worried.

Ursa couldn't help herself by this point. After wiping her escaping tears away with her right arm, she stood to her feet and fell into another embrace with the shorter boy.

"Don't count on me quitting just yet…" Ursa replied through a slightly choked-up voice.

* * *

Meanwhile, at a modest little dock in the Earth Kingdom, a potentially troublesome scene was about to unfold.

"Oh yeah, I saw an old-ish man dressed in black carrying some woman on board some ship a while back, but… you know what, it was _such_ a long time ago, I _just_ can't remember… care to help me out here?"

As the source of the voice held his mangled, expectant hand out, he was suddenly launched back into a mountain wall via earthbending. The source of said earthbending strode towards the scruffy, disheveled man she'd attacked and grabbed him by his front.

"You've got _some_ nerve trying to goad me like that, you dirty tramp! Do you know something, or don't you?" A veiled Jing yelled, roughly shaking the poor man around.

"Hey, _girlie_, you lookin' for a fight or somethin'?" one of the man's supposed, burly-looking companions asked, approaching the lone woman closer.

"Yeah, that right there was mighty uncalled for." Another, much scrawnier man replied in an extremely unfitting, painfully deep voice.

"No… but unless you idiots start giving me straight answers, I might have to start knocking a few heads."

The burly man simply sneered. "Whatever you say, sweetheart. You wanna act like the big man around here, that's exactly how we'll treat ya' like…"

Jing turned to face the stubborn men with a look of clear impatience on her face. Figuring that fighting this pack of scum was the only way to earn their cooperation, Jing sighed and readied herself for combat by taking a stance. "This'll have to be quick, I haven't got all day…"

Scowling in response to her overconfident attitude, the men soon began to charge towards Jing. Some of them even dared to attack her using their clumsy bending abilities.

A minute or two ahead of time, the scruffy and disheveled man Jing had threatened before the multiple confrontation could only stand there and gawp as the angry girl finished taking out the last of half a dozen men-some _twice_ her size-single handedly using multiple earthbending styles and techniques.

He then backed away and cringed in fear as Jing-her opposition now either unconscious or pitifully whimpering on the ground-walked back towards him again.

"Ready to stop dicking around with me now?" she snarled, taking another readied stance.

"A-Alright, alright, you win!" He exclaimed, holding his hands up. "I know the guy who rode 'em there, his name's Gen n' he runs a carriage service through the west of the Earth kingdom! If youse lookin' for the man and woman, he'll know where they were headed!"

"Where is he now?" Jing asked, smirking at finally having a lead after _months_ on end of tiresome searching.

"I don't know…" the 'tramp' replied meekly.

Annoyed once again, Jing glared daggers at the terrified man and used earthbending to send him flying back into the wall his back was currently facing. He gave off a pathetic whine as he sat up and his back cracked audibly as he stretched his aching limbs.

"_Guess_!" she hissed, her scowl intensifying.

"M-Makapu village, was the last place I heard he was headed!" the man then spluttered, his eyes widening as the ground began to shake around them both.

Jing suddenly began to calm down, folding her arms with a satisfied, lopsided smirk. The ground stopped shaking. "Was that really all that hard to tell me?"

She then grabbed a rucksack she'd brought along with her from the ground and slung it over her shoulder, turning around with her back to her victims and walking away.

"Hey, could youse at least spare a lil' change?" the informant then proceeded to ignore his nerves and grovel one last time.

"Keep asking and I might not even spare your _life_!" Jing spat back spitefully while glancing over her shoulder.

She heard no more as she then continued on her way towards the sunset, smirking menacingly at her small victory.

* * *

"You need to _focus_, Ursa!"

Piandao's stern command echoed throughout the castle's training field. The scorching afternoon sun made the atmosphere unbearably hot, even by the Fire Nation's standards, and Ursa was finding it near impossible to move, let alone _think_, after her intense firebending lesson two hours prior and her clear lack of sleep.

"I'm trying!" she retorted back. All of a sudden, she then grew so warm and weary that her legs collapsed beneath her.

An abyss of darkness followed before she regained consciousness again to feel herself being relentlessly shaken, with two familiar voices shouting all around her…

"Sis!"

"Ursa!"

"Sis, wake up, _please_!"

Responding to Kail's worried, near-upset tone of voice, Ursa forced herself to sit up and wake up completely.

Exhaling a sigh while wiping sweat from her forehead, she barely heard what Piandao said next.

"Are you alright? What on earth happened just now?" Piandao asked, holding a hand out and looking genuinely concerned.

Ursa, however, chose not to appreciate his feelings. Closing her eyes and unsteadily standing to her feet by herself, ignoring his offered hand, she then walked away and didn't look back.

"Ursa?" both boys called out simultaneously. Ursa, yet again, ignored them both and rushed around a corner.

Seconds later, Piandao simply sighed and buried his face in his free hand. "What is the matter with her today? I've never seen her like this…"

"I don't really know, sir…" Kail mused, stroking Zeljar's ear when the beast wandered over to see what the problem was. "Zeljar, go after Ursa."

The thickset liger then lazily trudged in the direction Ursa left in, leaving Piandao and Kail by themsevles to think over the clear problem they now had. Grunting and yawning every now and then as he made his journey, the pure white creature eventually found what he was looking for…

Ursa was sitting at the edge of the cliff near the waterfall, nostalgically staring at the painting of her family, when Zeljar nudged her shoulder with his nose. Looking to the side, Ursa then put the scroll away and sat back. She held her arms up so that Zeljar could then lay his head and forepaws down on her lap.

As he rested his head against her abdomen, Ursa wrapped her arms around his mane and then buried her face in it before hugging him even more tightly.

* * *

Piandao and Kail walked back to the top of the tallest tower in silence. With Piandao frowning and with Kail wearing a guilty look upon his face.

The old swordmaster had clearly picked up on this, grabbing Kail by the shoulder before the teen went to grab the nearby sweeping broom.

"You seem troubled." Piandao stated after Kail turned around to face him.

"I-I'm okay, Master Piandao." Kail replied hurriedly, grinning in a way that told Piandao that his young student clearly had something to hide.

Piandao quirked his brow, "Take a break. I'll set up a game of Pai Sho." He then replied, walking over to his table and placing a game board stored underneath it on the tabletop.

As Piandao then sat down and picked up a small drawstring bag full of Pai Sho tiles, beginning to set the game board out, Kail frowned apprehensively. Master Piandao only ever played Pai Sho when he wanted to get a secret out of someone… or tell them a secret.

Kail sat down, regardless, opposite Piandao as he moved the first tile. "Master Piandao, did you want to talk about Ursa? I mean, she seemed really upset earlier on…"

Piandao nodded. "Yes, I do want to talk about Ursa… but first; as I said before, you seem troubled?"

"I-! Uh…" Kail looked to the side as he moved a tile on the Pai Sho game board. "It's my fault Ursa's been so distant lately, I've been teaching her firebending."

Piandao's brow quirked, but then the expression soon followed with a nod. "I had guessed that that was the case, after Fat claimed he once saw her using a firebending technique to launch herself to the balcony of the kitchen to steal food…"

Kail groaned and face palmed. "She does it for Zeljar, I've told her _so_ many times not to do that!"

"Hold on, why would she steal food for Zeljar?" Piandao asked, frowning while moving a tile.

There was a pause… Kail moved a tile and replied as Piandao moved his next tile. "Please don't take offence to this sir, but Fat keeps making Ursa feed Zeljar when it's not her job, and she doesn't like the look of his food."

Piandao sighed. "It seems I will have to have a word with them both about that…" After Kail moved his next tile, Piandao interlaced his fingers and spoke up. "Kail, I need your advice… on teaching Ursa."

"Huh, really?" Kail frowned, puzzled at being asked such a question by his _own_ sifu. "But… you're a great teacher."

"Thank you, Kail, but I've only had the extended experience of teaching with you… Ursa, I've only just managed to get her competent with the basics over a span of ten months. You've already got her able to _jet propel_ using firebending; you're clearly better at teaching her than I am." Piandao replied.

"Thank you, but… she already knew all of this stuff, I don't even know how to jet propel yet; it just got reawakened by me taking her through it again. She's really creative with her firebending, I'm kinda learning _from_ her as I teach her, she just… never learns according to plan. There's never any structure to what she learns or does, she just kinda learns… when she learns, I guess. She can be really impatient, and she doesn't know when to quit or be honest about her weaknesses. Like today, for example… you think there's any way to fix that?" Kail replied, noticing that Piandao had not made his move as he seemed far too engrossed in the information his student was relaying to him.

"… No. We don't need to 'fix' her, I need to change the way I train her…" Piandao then made his last move. "You win, Kail. Continue to take a break, as a reward." With that, the ageing swordmaster stood to his feet and walked off.

"Uh… thanks!" Kail called out to him, grinning and holding two thumbs up. He then packed the Pai Sho board away before getting up and heading towards the kitchens.

* * *

It seemed as though Ursa had barely drifted off to sleep before she woke up to the feeling of someone gently squeezing her shoulder. Clearly, this was not the case as the moonless, pitch-black night made evident. A dew dozen distant, scattered stars gave the night sky it's only natural source of light in the atmosphere.

Piandao was kneeling there, with a lantern in hand, and Zeljar was still beneath her to act as a heavy-though surprisingly comfortable-pillow. The liger grumbled in ill temper as Ursa pushed his massive head up for a few seconds, so she was able to move her dying legs slightly and regain some feeling in them.

"How did you find me?" she asked as she lowered the liger's head onto her lap again, in a tone that suggested she didn't really want or expect to be found. She flinched and held her hands up to her nose and mouth as Zeljar opened his mouth and yawned in her general direction, giving her a clear indication of his sickening halitosis.

"I've noticed, living with you, that you like to spend your time outside… particularly near water and with Zeljar." Piandao responded, placing his lantern of fireflies down beside him as he sat next to her.

Ursa looked away, though it appeared to be out of shame more than chagrin. "I'm sorry about walking off the way I did… it was extremely childish."

"Why are _you_ sorry? I forced you to train until you fainted from exhaustion. I'm surprised that you aren't afraid of me."

Ursa couldn't help but laugh at that last sentence. "I'm afraid of a lot of people, but you are definitely not one of them Master Piandao."

"Oh, well, that's good to know." He replied.

"Actually, I came here to tell you that I'm sorry too. I've been forcing you to learn sword fighting in a way that does not suit you as a person at all. You do not learn through structure and tactical thinking like Kail does.

You are spontaneous and you improvise to learn and complete any task set in front of you. I can not mould who you are in order to make you learn the way that I teach Kail… you are two very different people, and that's all there is to it.

Perhaps, had I realized this earlier on, you would have been happier attending my lessons."

But, there was one nagging problem Ursa had with this.

"But, Master Piandao… every time I 'improvise', something usually goes wrong…" Ursa replied, looking down and narrowing her eyes.

Piandao placed a hand on her shoulder. "This isn't about dwelling on supposed weaknesses, Ursa, this is about turning your weaknesses into your strengths.

My own parents abandoned me from birth because I am not a firebender. Instead, I excelled in the field of swordsmanship and I learned to compensate for my lack of bending that way.

Anybody and everybody, deep down, has the inner strength to conquer their demons by making their 'weaknesses' work for them. Do you understand what I'm saying to you, Ursa?"

Ursa smiled back at him and nodded. "I do. That's actually really smart, Piandao. Thank you for your wisdom."

Piandao nodded in return. "Of course… now that you've had some sleep, I'd like to know if you are ready to continue your lesson from earlier on?"

Piandao laughed at the horrified expression Ursa gave him in return. "I'm just joking, Ursa. Go and catch up on your rest, I'll be sure that Achaz and Kail leave you alone tomorrow morning until you've fully rested."

Ursa breathed a sigh of relief at this and hugged Piandao. "Thank you, I'm really going to need that. Good night, Piandao."

She then broke away from her sword fighting sifu and trudged off to her room for some much-needed sleep.

As she did, Piandao turned to face the waterfall while looking down at a lone lotus tile that he'd picked up from the Pai Sho board before finishing his game with Kail. He then turned it between his index and middle finger while frowning, then rolled it back into his palm and clenched his fingers over it before walking off to finally go to sleep himself.

* * *

It was early in the morning in the Earth Kingdom at that time; the summer season meant that despite the time, the sky was still a deep, dark blue.

Gen had travelled from Makapu Village during the entire night using his trusty ostrich horse, delivering the boxes of cargo which surrounded him inside his carriage. He, of course, looked extremely tired and consequentially irritated as a result.

Suddenly, he was startled fully awake by a loud thud and a creak which had sounded right above him. He quickly got up and peered out from one side of the carriage and onto its roof.

"Who's there?" he exclaimed. He then frowned in confusion when he saw absolutely nothing there… as though it was all in his head.

He simply shrugged and ducked back into the carriage. "Must've been some big tree branch…"

He then jumped out of his skin when he saw that he was no longer alone inside the carriage.

"_Excuse_ me, but are you calling me fat?" the black-clad, flamboyant figure inside the carriage replied indignantly.

"W-Who are you?" Gen exclaimed, eyes wide. "The _heck_ do you want?"

"Sorry, honey, but you're coming with us." His new passenger explained, grabbing Gen's shoulder and suddenly jabbing him swiftly around his limbs.

The intruder then grabbed the limp and defenseless Gen and lifted him over his shoulders.

"W-What're you doin'?" Gen growled weakly.

"Oh _you'll_ see." The black-clad intruder replied, skillfully jabbing a pressure point to knock the man out cold before jumping out of the moving carriage and leaving the ostrich horse to run by its lonesome as he rushed off through the bushes with his captive target.

* * *

One fresh, cool, dawning autumn day, Fat walked towards the main gates of Piandao's castle after hearing two obnoxiously loud knocks. He almost immediately groaned after opening the door. "Sorry, but the master is busy, come back another day…"

"Look, old man, I am the son of the esteemed Gan-Shen of the Fire Nation Capital!" a disgruntled, pre-pubescent voice sounded from the scrawny build of a young, sickly-looking man. "If I get turned away _one_ more time-!"

Suddenly, the demanding teen was pushed aside without warning as an older man rushed in holding a scroll. He then stopped to catch his breath, panting. "M-Master Piandao… scroll… urgent…!"

Fat held out a hand for the scroll, looking more unimpressed than usual. After being handed the scroll and scanning through it, however, the disgruntled butler's annoyed expression soon turned into a look of pure horror. He gawped like a hungry ostrich horse as he turned and rushed back towards the entrance to the castle, sparing some thought to at least beckon the well-informed messenger to come along with him.

"HEY, I'm not finished yet!" the ignored voice of the young man called out to them both as the messenger closed the doors behind him.

* * *

Zeljar, once perfectly comfortable and peacefully sleeping, flinched as the sound of two swords connecting echoes through the surrounding castle grounds a short distance away from his own location.

The swords then scrapped against each other with a sickening screech and a series of harmonious clangs echoed all around as the two sword bearers attacked each other with the full force of their metallic weapons.

Eventually, as both swords flew away upon impact with one another and pierced a line into the soil of the greenery further up ahead, the teacher bowed to his pupil as she-in turn-bowed back.

"Ursa, I must say that you're improving at an incredible rate now. No student has _ever_ knocked my sword from my own hands like that yet!" Piandao announced, near astonished.

Ursa smiled with pride, flattered. "Well, I have a great teacher." She then replied.

As Piandao smiled back, Fat and the messenger then entered the scene…

"M-Master Piandao!" the dumpy butler called over to the old swordmaster, stopping to catch his breath. "A message…"

Piandao took the offered scroll from his butler's hands and read through it all, looking more and more concerned the further his eyes scanned towards the bottom of the scroll. He then rolled the scroll up and turned to the messenger. "When were you given this message?"

"T-Three days ago…" the messenger replied meekly.

"What!" Both Piandao and Fat exclaimed back, looking horrified.

"I'm sorry, I'm truly sorry, I got here as fast as I could!" the messenger replied, cringing.

Piandao heaved a sigh and nodded. "Thank you, we truly appreciate your efforts."

The messenger nodded and rushed back towards the entrance. Ursa, utterly perplexed, watched him run away and frown before he disappeared around a corner.

Piandao then turned to Fat. "Fat, you must leave. Ursa, Kail and Zeljar"-Fat rolled his eyes-"are to accompany you. I'll give you further instructions when you are ready." Piandao then added, ignoring Fat's reaction to having to take the liger with him as well as Piandao's two pupils.

"Yes, sir." Fat replied, nodding and bowing before rushing off-presumably to find Kail.

Looking shocked, Ursa grabbed Piandao's shoulder before he turned to leave. "Piandao, wait, what is going on?"

"Soldiers are coming to the castle, Ursa… I presume they want a word-or even a fight-with me; I can't let them hurt any of you all for my sake or through any fault of my own." Piandao replied, while closing his eyes and dipping his head forward slightly with a solemn expression on his face.

This did not, naturally, sit well with Ursa.

"But what about my training, Piandao? What you've been teaching me, for this past year or so?"

Piandao frowned. "What about it?"

"I can stay here and I can fight! For you, for your home, for Kail, for Zeljar and for Fat! What kind of a person would that make me if I ran away when you could be in dire need? Don't send me away, Piandao. Let me stay and let me help you." Ursa then replied, her tone of voiced raised higher than usual.

Piandao looked down at Ursa. Her expression had contorted to one not unlike a warrior ready for a fight. He noted how her golden eyes seemed aflame with an inner passion for this sudden desire to defend his home and its inhabitants. He smiled proudly.

"There is nothing else for you here, Ursa. I've already taught you and Kail everything you need to know. You first came to me with a desire to learn to fight. You struggled initially, but towards the end you quickly gained the courage and the confidence-as well as the skills-to accomplish exactly what you sought out to learn at that time.

You have changed more than I think you've come to realize, but that change is not necessarily appropriate for this situation. You must know when to pick and choose your fights, Ursa. This fight is not yours." Piandao shook his head. "You are not even supposed to _be_ in the Fire Nation. Your being here is my fault, and I'd never forgive myself if you suffered for that.

Go out and fight your own battles. Take Kail and Zeljar with you… and don't worry about me, I've had experience with this type of conflict before. Just focus on getting out of here, safely. I'll be fine, I promise."

With her facial expression softening, as though she had begun to really understand the speech Piandao had relayed to her, she nodded while keeping a solemn expression. She then opened her arms to give her sword fighting sifu one last farewell embrace. "Thank you for everything, Master Piandao. One day, I will repay you."

"Pay no mind to that. Just hurry up, get ready and get out of here. I'm going to have Fat send a message to an old friend of mine, so follow him when you're prepared to go. Hurry, go, the soldiers will be here at any minute!"

Ursa nodded and bowed, rushing away and yanking her self-crafted sword out from it's place-stuck in the ground-before sheathing it and running inside the castle.

* * *

On her way to her room, Ursa overheard Fat explaining the situation to Kail as she rushed inside her room upon reaching the door. Soon slowing her pace and looking around, she stopped to think for a few moments before she set to work. She gathered items such as old clothing and other objects easily identified as hers and threw them on top of her cleanly-made bed. When emptying her chest of drawers, she hesitated as she came across the scroll containing the picture of her family, as well as the chi-blocking scroll.

Taking both scrolls out from the drawers, she threw the chi-blocking scroll into an open, separate bag she'd placed in the middle of the room and then unrolled the family portrait and stared at it, for what seemed to her like an eternity. She suddenly heard Kail's voice call out to her, "Sis, we need to go!"

Closing her eyes as she gritted her teeth, she took a deep breath as she hugged the only physical possession she had which reminded her of her long lost family to her chest; Ursa then took another good look at the scroll before re-rolling it again. She held it up, loosely and vertically, from its top and placed a hand underneath it. She closed her eyes again and took a deep breath through the nose as she set it alight using firebending with the same hand she'd placed underneath it.

As the flames travelled towards the top of the scroll, she released the hand holding it and turned her hands over with a pained expression on her face, controlling the flame as she let the scroll wither and disintegrate into nothing but ashes before taking yet another deep breath and gathering the bed sheets containing the belongings she'd thrown on the bed into a type of sack. She slung it over her shoulder and walked over to the smaller bag on the floor as Kail appeared in the doorframe.

"Ursa, are you okay?" Kail asked earnestly, somehow sensing her depression the moment he got to the door.

Ursa forced herself to smile at him and nodded. "I'm fine… before we go, come and help me burn all of this stuff, something tells me we're going to need to travel light." She said, gesturing to the silk bed sheets full of the items she'd thrown on the bed.

Kail frowned. "Uh…" He then nodded. "Sure; but we should make it quick. I can see the soldiers on the horizon already."

Ursa nodded before using her foot to kick the flap over the bag on the floor. She picked the 'sealed' bag up with her spare hand, letting it go as she rested the strap on her left shoulder. She then followed Kail out of the room, taking one last glance around as she walked out while closing the door behind her.

* * *

Zeljar and Fat were both anxiously glancing towards the two firebenders for two different reasons as they burned Ursa's old belongings.

Fat, not being the bravest butler of all time, was anxious as the soldiers he was forewarned about were now drawing ever-closer to the castle with clear ill-intent.

Zeljar just didn't like fire.

"We need to leave you two, _now_!" he urged in a panicked tone of voice.

Ursa nodded and placed her hands above the burning items, into the smoke rising from them, and finished the job by using a firebending move to spark the smoldering mess to ashes and cinders. The move, in turn, scattered them into the waterfall below.

"Looks like we're ready…" Kail announced, turning to Fat as Ursa scraped the remaining ashes to the side with her shoe, accidentally making the poor liger in their company sneeze as the ashes got caught in a sudden gust of wind and hit his face.

The old butler nodded and turned to walk at a much faster pace than normal as Kail, Ursa and Zeljar followed him. Ursa gave the old liger an apologetic stroke on the head and brushed the remaining ashes away from his nose "I know another way out of the castle, but we need to hurry now if we want to make it out of here in good time!"

* * *

"The moron's gonna get himself killed if he doesn't start giving straight answers to our questions!" an angry, male voice sounded from a hillside near Piandao's castle.

"The prisoner guy?" a higher-pitched and more flighty, girl's voice asked. "Yeah, he's annoying…"

"Where are we, damn it?" Yet another voice from within the group of five suddenly yelled out, making the remaining four flinch in various manners.

"Captain Mari"-that familiar snigger reared its ugly head again, the speaker groaned audibly before continuing-"got an anonymous tip-off that the princess is in that castle over there." The deeper female voice replied, her left arm rising in front of her and her hand pointing to the aforementioned castle just ahead of them.

"Hey, aren't those Fire Nation soldiers?" the high-pitched girl's voice-Miyuki's-suddenly exclaimed in surprise.

The other female, Jing, then frowned as she noticed the ant-like figures of the soldiers-homing in on the opposite side of the castle to the one their group was facing-too.

"Well, for his sake, I hope that 'anonymous source' is right. I can't take another damn mis-" the third voice; belonging to a tall, skinny and morbid-looking man began to speak but was silenced mid-way by Jing's raised hand to his face.

"Hold that thought, Enlai…" she muttered, her lips curling into a smirk once she spotted their target, conveniently enough, right in the general direction they were facing. Said target was walking, near-aimlessly, with what appeared to be a young boy, an old man and a giant white animal.

"She's right there." Jing said to her group, her voice somehow sounding both serious and yet relieved at the same time. "_Finally_!"

* * *

**Oh my goodness, I finally got the last of this done today! I think this is the longest chapter yet, it's just under 7,300 words including this author's summary.**

**So that's Chapter 17 done, I hope you enjoyed it! Looking back, I think it might be a little rushed since this chapter alone takes place in the span of like a year, but it's really done for the sake of moving the story along. What do you guys think? Was it the right thing to do?**

**Look out for Chapter 18, coming soon, because it's going to be the plot's gamebreaker. haha**

**Thanks for reading!**


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